Lessons in Life
by Artemis Bloodshadow
Summary: A series of oneshots based on all the things that Mai and Naru could be learning. 19: An English test, Sexy Silk, and an embarrassing encounter! What's a girl to do? Will Naru be her medicine man? READER SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!
1. Geometry

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt.

Please Teach: Geometry

(A.N.) This is the first in a series of one-shots that I'm planning to do. Hopefully, I'll be able to live up to that aspiration. I tried to keep everyone in character, but this is my first Ghost Hunt fic, so I may have failed. Love it anyway!

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There are few things in this world that Mai Taniyama hates, but math is one of them.

She'd never been one for numbers. Sure, she could do all the basics well, but the more complicated stuff eluded her comprehension as if she were trying to hold water in her hands. Mai excelled at history and language and the arts, not this numbers crap.

Geometry, she decided while doing her homework, was the most evil of all the math she'd had yet. All those formulas that she couldn't memorize, all the theorems and postulates. _Who needs this stuff anyway?_ she thought grumpily to herself. _It's not like I'm going to be an architect or anything._

The office of Shibuya Psychic Research was silent, the only sound coming from the air conditioning unit. The steady drone was a soothing background noise that tickled Mai's hearing as she stubbornly tackled the next problem she'd been assigned for homework. She refused to let a stupid book with shapes everywhere in it defeat her. _I'll finish it even if it kills me_, she growled silently.

Technically, she was supposed to be working, but she'd finished all the secretarial and cataloging work that her boss, Kazuya Shibuya, had told her to do. Naru, as she called him because of his narcissistic tendencies, had locked himself in his office and told her not to bug him. So, with nothing else to do, Mai had decided to do her homework. Scholarships or not, she would have to pass her classes. The school wasn't about to give her a completely free ride, and she really didn't expect them to.

And she was actually doing well in all her classes.

Except Geometry.

Pencil scratching away at the paper, Mai's brow furrowed in irritation and confusion. _A proof. I hate proofs! _She inspected the problem again.

And wasn't enlightened the least little bit as to what the hell it was talking about. Something about the angle formed by a tangent to a circle containing a triangle and how to prove a bunch of stuff congruent. Mai wasn't a very violent person, but this book was making her wish she'd brought a lighter and some gasoline with her that day.

Fed up with the incomprehensible problem, Mai's mind wandered shameless on to other topics. Like Naru. Seventeen, her boss, and so good looking that she was pretty sure people stared at him on the streets. Unfortunately, Mai didn't think he even really knew that she existed outside the realm of her part time job as his assistant. A slight blush stained the brunette girl's cheeks as she thought about him, about all the things that he'd done. The arrogant things he said. The rare smiles that really reached his gorgeous eyes. The long lashes that framed those eyes. His intelligence.

"Wait a minute…" Mai mumbled to herself, glancing from the evil Geometry book to the closed door of Naru's office. _I wonder if…_ "Nah. He'd call me an idiot. Again."

Another look at his door.

"Well…" Mai examined the problem again and sighed. There was going to be a test on this lesson next week, and she really needed to do well on it. Really, _really_ needed to do well on it. With another sigh, she stood up from her desk and gathered up her book, pencil, and notebook in her arms and approached Naru's door.

Nervously, she tapped on the wood, and then tucked her short hair behind her ear as she waited.

"Come in," a deep, smooth voice assented from inside.

Steeling herself, Mai grasped the brass handle of the door and pushed it open. The room was dark and covered in bookshelves. The only real light was being cast from the computer screen, illuminating everything in an eerie blue glow. Typing rapidly, Naru didn't take his eyes off the screen as she entered the office. His only acknowledgement of her presence was the words "I'm busy. What is it, Mai?"

Hesitating for a moment more, Mai toyed with her pencil, and then finally asked, "What do you know about Geometry proofs?"

Almost as if startled by the out of place question, Naru paused in his typing and looked at her. Mai felt the familiar sensation of her heart pounding when he did. It was a common occurrence. So common that she'd almost gotten used to the rush. She didn't even blush that badly anymore.

"Why do you ask?" Naru inquired in reply, narrowing his eyes.

"Well… I sort of don't understand it," Mai admitted, a bit embarrassed. _And now he'll make fun of me._

Right on cue, Naru smirked and said, "That's what you get for skipping class all the time, idiot."

Flushing, Mai resisted the urge to stab him with her pencil. "Fine," she snapped, "This is the last time I try to ask for _your_ help." She whirled around, prepared to make her angry exit.

His voice stopped her. "I didn't say I wouldn't help you, though I won't if you leave. I don't have time to deal with you temper tantrum."

Trying to hold on to her fleeting anger, Mai wanted to just continue on her way so that she could just leave this whole situation behind her. _I just know I'm going to regret this_, she thought too late as she pulled up a chair next to him at his desk. _I'll just end up embarrassing myself._

"How do you not understand this?" Naru asked blankly, scanning the problem over her shoulder. His breath blew over the skin of her neck, completely distracting her from what she was supposed to be doing.

So, naturally, she stuttered a bit. It was her normal reaction to whatever Naru did that just made the air leave her body. She'd heard her friends talk about this when they'd fallen for guys at their school. Mai had come to realize that she'd fallen for Naru, much to her complete astonishment. After all, he was a narcissist. Usually, she would have never gone for someone with as much attitude as Naru had, but Naru was...

He was special.

With an aggravated exhalation of breath that made her shiver, Naru cut off her mangled words, saying, "Never mind. Just watch." He picked up her pencil and began sketching and writing formulas and theorems on the paper, leaning over her as he did it.

Mai's attention was completely focused on how close and warm he was, not the math. _It's just not fair,_ the brunette moaned in her mind. His voice flowed over her, explaining the steps as he wrote. Of course, she barely understood it and told him so.

An hour later, Naru told Mai that she was utterly hopeless at the subject since she seemed unable to pay attention to what he was saying for more than a millisecond. Mai responded that maybe he was just incapable at teaching.

He told her that, just for that remark, he was going to tutor her everyday she came to work, just to prove a point.

oOo

About a week later, Mai raced into the SPR office, completely excited. "Naru!" she called, throwing open the door to his personal office.

Naru was standing at one of the bookcases when she burst in, flipping through some text about the paranormal. Before he knew what Mai was going to do, he found himself wrapped in an exuberant hug and kissed on the cheek.

"I got an A on my Geometry test!" his assistant squealed happily, "Thank you so much!" She hugged him again and rushed back out of the room, flushed and humming an upbeat tune.

Once she was gone, Naru smiled slightly, touched his cheek, and said into the empty room, "Your welcome."

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(A.N.) REVIEW PLEASE!!!!! I can't make my characterization better if you don't let me know what you all think! 


	2. Euchre

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt.

Lesson about Euchre

(A.N.) Okay. For this one, you have to kind of accept that Naru would let himself get suckered into playing a card game. Yeah. And this one isn't really fluffy. It's more funny (in my opinion), but I couldn't _not _write it. I hate it when that happens... So, read it, embrace it, and love it!

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Mai was absolutely mortified.

The Shibuya Psychic Research team had just finished up its last investigation of a haunted ice skating rink, and had returned to the base they had been using in the skater's lounge to pack up. Upon arriving there, however, they had been challenged by a skating duo to a game of Euchre. Euchre, of all things.

But that wasn't what was terrifying Mai Taniyama. Oh no, she knew how to play Euchre, and she was actually pretty good at it. And it wasn't the fact that her boss, Naru, was her partner either. In fact, he had been the one to accept the challenge, arrogant as he was.

All she had to do about that was not look at him. She knew very well that she would be incapable of intelligent thought if she looked at him, and she had no desire to look like the crushing fool she was.

The fact that was tormenting Mai was that the ice skaters were playing a special version of Euchre: Strip Euchre. Instead of getting points for your tricks, you had to take off articles of clothing. One garment per point. Now, Mai and Naru had found this out early on when they realized they didn't have score cards, but they were both adamant that they were going to win anyway, so what did it matter? Nothing, of course.

That attitude quickly flew out the window when they realized that they were getting beaten, and beaten badly at that. And neither of them were the type to simply forfeit.

And so, Mai was down to her tank top, skirt and undergarments, after having to remove the rest of her school uniform

Naru was shirtless.

So Mai, naturally, was speechless as well as somewhat underdressed. This explains her mortification. She couldn't concentrate a damn on the game while the guy she was clearly falling for was shirtless. Any self-respecting woman would be doing the same thing. Keeping her eyes on her cards was suddenly both a smarter thing to do and a harder thing to do. _Choices, choices…_ she thought to herself.

The brunette opted for the choice of not losing anymore clothing. Anything that stopped the embarrassment of this stupid game. The other SPR members and associates (Lin, Ayako, Masako, John, Takigawa, and Yasuhara) had wandered off earlier, saying that they would return eventually. This was before the prospect of losing clothes was realized, which explains the others' disinterest.

The other team scored another three tricks with their trumps, earning them a point.

"You lose another one," the woman, a pretty black haired girl a couple years older than Mai.

Naru gave up his socks (which counted for a half article of clothing each), and Mai had to give up her shirt.

_Okay. No fair! This is so not worth it. I want to go home!_ she thought, bemoaning her bad luck. She hated it when people stared at her, and that's just about what they were doing. Even Naru. She glared slightly back at him. _He should know better!_

"What the hell are you two doing?!" a stern, older voice interrupted, causing Mai to accidentally scatter the cards she'd been shuffling in surprise.

The two skaters looked sick with embarrassment when their coach stormed in, followed by their choreographer.

"Get your assess back on the ice, you slackers!" the older woman screeched. Her face was livid and flushed, completely enraged.

In a flurry, the other team had raced out the door, tripping as they tried to lace up their skates and run at the same time. Huffing, both the coach and the choreographer stomped after their pupils, looking disapproving and appalled. This left Mai and Naru, still sitting at the table with cards everywhere, in the middle of a very awkward silence. Mai wasted no time in pulling all of her lost clothing back on, barely managing to get all her appendages through the right holes. Naru, on the other hand, was far more composed, as if this were a common day occurrence that he dealt with all the time. Just like how he handled most everything else.

"This is your fault," Mai snapped at him out of spite. Technically, that was true, but the only reason she said it was to make her red face seem like a result of anger, not embarrassment. Turning on her heel after delivering her due, she stormed to the door.

"Mai?" Naru said calmly, as she was about to slam the door closed behind her.

"What?" she growled, stubbornly not looking at him while he buttoned his black shirt back up.

She could hear the smirk in his voice as he said, "Nice lace."

Mai didn't know she could squeak that loud or run as fast as she did. She made a resolution never to play Euchre again without knowing the stakes.

She'd learned her lesson.

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(A.N.) Yes. Strip Euchre exists. Don't ask why I know that. If you don't know what Euchre is, then don't worry about it. It's not a necessary life skill. Unless you're in debate... Anyways, please review. The next fic will be more in character. I promise!


	3. Breathe

Disclaimer: Do I really need to say this again?

How to Breathe Again

(A.N.) Okay, here's the third installment. But before I go into comments for this one, I guess I should explain something. Euchre is a card game. It is not Japanese. You and a partner play against another two person team and the goal is to make it to ten points. You play with the aces, the face cards, and the tens and nines in the deck. At the beginning of each hand, one of the suits is declared trump. This means that suit is considered a higher point value than all the other cards. If you want a more detailed description, either pm me or check it out online.

Now, as for this chapter: It's a bit more...fluffy? Yeah, I'll go with fluffy, than I usually write, but I think its not too cheesy. Love it!

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It was a beautiful day, the sun shining in all its summery glory. The air was crisp and not a bit humid, a by product of the heavy rains a few days ago. Softly, a light breeze blew and ruffled the trees and grass.

It was too bad, in Mai Taniyama's opinion, that she was working a case.

A couple days ago, during one of the violent storms responsible for the wonderful weather, a woman had come to the SPR office. Shivering and wary, the woman had recounted the creepy events happening at her employer's home. She was a maid in a well-to-do family's house doing cleaning and the like, and had come to them on behalf of the family.

Strange sounds in the hallways at night. Figures in the dark. Voices. Things moving and flying through the air.

And the disappearance of one of the other maids.

"We're all so afraid," the woman, Koizumi Yue, had whispered fearfully. Her eyes held the most terrified look Mai had ever seen, and that's including all the cases that she'd worked before. "Please, I'm begging you Shibuya-_san_, will you come?"

Naru, as Mai called her boss, had agreed. Mai supposed that even her narcissistic boss couldn't say no to this peticular case and the distressed woman who'd come to them.

So, here she was. Sitting in the Base (an unused bedroom on the second floor) and giving up the chance to enjoy the gorgeous day outside. She gazed out the window dreamily, watching the wind make ripples on the lake. The lake its self was also extremely beautiful. The surface was like silvery blue glass, peaceful and calm, with only the slightest disturbance from the wind.

Mai was supposed to be watching the monitors for anything that was paranormal in nature while the others searched the grounds. Outside. In the sun.

Leaving her stuck in the confines of the house like a sick dog.

Growling inarticulately to herself, the brunette girl felt her eyes slipping closed. Rather than fight for the waking world, however, she simply let it happen. She'd stopped fighting her sudden bouts of sleepiness since it usually meant that she was going to dream _something_ to do with the case that SPR was working on. Even Naru had stopped ordering sternly not to fall asleep, which was a paranormal thing in and of its self in Mai's opinion.

oOo

_She was out by the lake, luxuriating in the sunlight. She loved how the rays and the wind caressed her skin. It was the most peaceful place she'd been, physically or mentally, in a long time._

"_Mai."_

_The familiar smooth voice of Naru made her head turn quick as a whip. She found him standing by the banks of the lake, dressed all in black. Just like always. She took a moment to examine his handsome face in detail. He had thick midnight black hair and the most stunning pair of sapphire eyes that she'd ever seen. He had sharp feature that made his face very memorable. As much as his narcissistic tendencies irritated her sometimes, Mai knew that Naru had the right to be so. _

_She took a step towards Naru, only to have him hold up a halting hand. "No. You have to stay away from the lake, Mai. It's not safe."_

"_Not safe?" Mai repeated confusedly. "Why?"_

_A sudden scream tore through the peaceful air, and frantic splashes followed. Mai turned towards the sound, resisting the urge to cover her ears to protect them from the high pitched noise. _

_Struggling in the water was a woman dressed in a standard maid's uniform. The water seemed to move of its own accord, swallowing the woman and her screams. Instinctively, Mai moved forward to help her, but Naru shouted over the noise, "No! Stay away from the water!"_

"_But—!"_

"_No, Mai!" Naru's voice was hard and brooked no argument. "You must stay away from the lake. Do you understand?"_

_The woman's cries were gone just as suddenly as they began. Tears running down her cheeks, Mai stared sorrowfully at the again smooth surface._

"_Mai?"_

"_I…I understand," Mai answered quietly. This didn't mean, though, that she had any intention of watching something so horrible again. She wouldn't let someone else drown._

_She wouldn't._

oOo

Wet traces of her tears still stained her cheeks when Mai woke up. The sun was still high in the sky and a quick look at the clock revealed that she'd only been asleep for about fifteen minutes. So much terror and sadness in fifteen minutes.

Such were Mai Taniyama's dreams, thanks to her ESP.

Scrubbing at her face determinedly, she looked back out the window towards the lake, seeing no longer its beauty. Now, all she saw was a deadly trap waiting to snare its next victim.

She had to warn the others.

In an instant, the brown eyes girl sprung to her feet, intending to run down to the grounds and spread the warning. She hadn't even gone one step when she saw something that chilled her to her very bones: Naru,_ real_ Naru, was approaching the seemingly innocent lake, holding some sort of device in one hand and a notebook in the other. Rooted on the spot, Mai watched as he crouched next to water, passing the tool over the water.

She was watching when the liquid reared up and pulled him in.

Mai didn't know she could run that fast.

Feet flying and heart pounding, she sprinted down the stairs and out of the house. _Oh, gods!_ her mind screamed. _Help! _The grass was slippery under her slippers, but she didn't check her pace. It didn't matter if she fell and hurt herself. Nothing mattered except Naru. Naru was in trouble. She knew it. _Felt_ it. Fighting for breath, she still was screaming as loud as she could, "Help! Somebody help!" She shouted other things, mostly pleas for assistance. As she neared the lake, she started shrieking Naru's name.

No one answered.

Mai didn't even pause to kick off her house slippers. Just dove in and opened her eyes, searching frantically. _Gods help me, where is he?_ Her lungs were beginning to protest the lack of oxygen, but she didn't surface. She kept feeling through the shadowy water, praying to every god and ancestor she knew. The water was feeling thicker by the second and every movement she made was met with massive resistance. It was like swimming through molasses.

Finally, just when she thought her lungs couldn't take one more second, her fingers brushed cloth and she latched onto it, pulling and kicking her way to the surface. She spared a brief second to thank the gods that Naru was lighter than he usually was in the water, but quickly realized that it wasn't going to be easy. It took every ounce of strength she had to haul him to the surface and to pull him onto the bank.

Desperately, she started screaming again for help. She started shaking Naru as well, fear giving her extra energy she wouldn't have otherwise possessed. "Naru!" she cried, feeling hot tears joining the water on her face.

He didn't move. Not even an eyelash fluttered.

"Kazuya!" she tried again, shaking harder.

Nothing.

With horror, Mai realized that his chest wasn't moving. "Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods…" she repeated rapidly, terror running the words together into something almost not understandable.

Faintly, she could hear yells and footsteps coming her way, but she didn't really care at that moment. Praying again, she called on her memory for everything she'd ever learned about first aid.

Palm down in the center of the chest. Other hand on top, heel of the hand pressing solidly down on the other. On your knees for leverage. Press down eight times in succession.

"One, two, three…" Mai counted out loud. _Please work, please work…_

Tilt victim's head back and pinch their nose shut. Place lips over theirs and exhale.

Repeat chest compressions.

Mai was practically choking on her own tears as she preformed CPR. The others had reached her by now, but she was completely oblivious to them. "Breathe, Naru!" she ordered desperately. "Damn it, I said breathe!" She pounded down on his chest, then leaned back down and forced her own breath into him. "Please don't do this, Naru…" she whispered, going back to the compressions. "Please don't leave me."

She breathed into him again.

Her hands were sore from pressing down so hard, but she put them back into the right position and started again. "One, two…"

Mai nearly jumped out of her chilled skin when Naru coughed violently, ridding the water from his lungs. Tears of fright turning to tears of relief, Mai shifted him onto his side and buried her face into the side of his neck. "Thanks the gods," she sobbed, "You're alive. Thank the gods…"

Ambulance sirens sounded in the drive as the paramedics arrived. They rushed onto the scene with their stretchers and their bags, finding a group of people by the lake. At the center of the group, a brown haired young woman was clutching at a youth dressed in black tightly. Both were soaked. The medics sprang into action, moving the young people from their position on the ground to the stretchers, checking their pulses and other vital signs.

"What happened here?" one of EMTs asked, addressing the only foreigner in the group.

Priest John Brown, a slight look of awe in his light blue eyes, replied, "She taught him how to breathe again."

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(A.N.) Hope you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too cheesy. Please REVIEW!


	4. Cooking

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

Cooking Fiasco

(A.N.) Okay. Here's story #4! I was told by my beta that it's a tad sappy, but I hope in a good way. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You all rock! And thanks for the suggestions, as well. This installment was actually a reviewer suggestion, so credit must be given to said review. Love to **Alianora Serein**! Hope you all enjoy the story!

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Snow fell thickly, blanketing the ground. Buildings and street lamps were frosted and had shining ice cycles hanging from them. Mai thought that the overall effect was magical. The snow was so pure and the ice was sparkling in the lights of civilization, dazzling her as she walked to work. It was cold, but Mai was happy to brave the elements to see the snow falling softly around her.

It was less magical as soon as she slipped on some ice and fell into a snow drift.

When she finally made it to the SPR office building, Mai was shivering a bit and her cheeks were bright pink from the icy wind. Kicking the door shut with her booted foot, the brunette began stripping off her mittens and winter coat, then moved to unwind the fuzzy scarf from her neck. The heater was on full blast in the office and it was making her sweat. Mai wanted out of all the layers of clothes now!

In her haste, Mai managed to almost strangle herself with her scarf.

Once she could breathe properly again, she proceeded more slowly, finally ending by taking off her wet boots and slipping on some dry indoor shoes.

Lin came out of his office just in time to see Mai fumble with the shoes and fall rather ungracefully on her butt. "Taniyama-_san_?" he said when she didn't stand up right away. Stepping around the armchairs, he found Mai sitting on the floor. Grumbling and staring, clearly vexed, at the puddle she'd slipped in.

"I'm fine, Lin-_san_," Mai responded when she heard him, pushing herself to her feet. Almost in the blink of an eye, she reverted back to her usual happy-go-lucky self and was smiling, no longer frustrated with the puddle.

"Are you just going to stand there in the doorway like an idiot?"

Mai turned to glare at her boss. Lin didn't bother, he just went back into his own office since he was satisfied that Mai hadn't foolishly injured herself.

"I am _not _standing like an idiot, Naru!" Mai huffed. _Just once_, she sighed inwardly, _just once he could say "Hello" like a normal person. It wouldn't kill him._ Even though she secretly loved him, Mai was constantly annoyed by his overly standoffish ways. It was like socialization was the bane of Kazuya Shibuya's existence, unless it suited him better to be polite if the situation called for it of course.

Completely ignoring her protest, Naru waved a dismissive hand and said, "Tea. Now."

"Yes, sir," Mai growled out in returned. _A please would be nice._

Shuffling into the kitchenette, Mai pulled out the kettle and filled it with water, and then placed it on the stove. She turned on the burner. While the water heated, she pulled out the green tea that Naru liked and the jasmine kind that Lin liked. Her stomach growled half-way through the preparation. Mai rummaged through the cupboards, trying to find something edible, but was dismayed to find nothing at all.

Well, except for the _natto_ in the fridge, but there was no way she was eating that. Fermented bean paste was not on her list of what substances she considered fit for consumption.

_I'll need to grab something to eat…_ Mai pondered for a second, eventually coming to a brilliant conclusion. She would run over to the supply store and grab a few ingredients so she could make a batch of cookies from scratch! That would solve everything.

With this plan in mind, she delivered both cups of tea, humming the entire time. She let Naru know that she had to make a quick trip to the store across the way, and then flounced out the door, back in her winter wear, before he could tell her no.

A minute later, Mai was efficiently grabbing stuff off the shelves in the store, already knowing the two recipes she was going to use by heart. Gingerbread and chocolate chip. Her two favorite kinds. _And_ she had yet to make a batch of cookies that anyone else disliked. Mai was a good cook, especially when it came to baked goods. She may be clumsy sometimes, but the kitchen was her domain. Besides, anything that involved sugar was her forte.

She returned to SPR with two paper bags full of flour, sugar, and the like. Avoiding the incredulous looks from Lin and Naru, Mai cheerfully plopped the bags down on the kitchenette counter and began unloading. The room was smaller than her kitchen, but it was surprisingly well equipped. Some days, luck was just on Mai Taniyama's side.

"Mai. What do you think you're doing?" Naru was lurking in the doorway to the kitchenette, watching with clear annoyance as the girl began pulling out bowls and pans from various cabinets. Naru hadn't even known that half the things she discovered resided in the SPR kitchen.

To put it gently, Naru wasn't a domestic kind of guy.

"I'm baking. You have nothing but _natto_ to eat. Surely you don't expect to survive on that stuff." Mai shivered at the thought. She despised _natto_.

Naru's annoyance crept up another notch. Sometimes, Mai was simply infuriating. The rest of the time though… _No. _"And you didn't just buy ready made food because why?"

"Because I'd rather make it and because I want to make it. It's snowing outside. I always make cookies when it snows outside." Mai didn't add on the little tidbit that she wanted to make cookies for _him_. Naru would probably laugh at her or something. Whatever his reaction, it would still be far too embarrassing to ever admit out loud. Hell, it was embarrassing to admit to _herself_.

Naru knew he ought to get back to work. He really did. But he found himself uncharacteristically torn between watching Mai's cooking expedition and working. He also found that, similarly uncharacteristic of him, he actually preferred stay and watch Mai. There was a light that seemed to travel with her. It made a room seem much warmer when she entered. Her laughter. Her smile. They were completely unfathomable. He'd tried dissecting the feeling he had when he saw her: that tight, constricted, warm feeling that he'd never experienced before. He hated it when he couldn't find good rational explanations for a phenomenon, so he hated when he felt that sensation take hold of him. He couldn't figure it out.

Mai busily began measuring water into a cup, and then poured it into a bowl with butter and sugar already inside it. After that, she cracked some eggs and added them as well.

Naru didn't move as she worked. Didn't say a word. Mai actually forgot that he was there since he was so still.

The chocolate chip cookie dough was soon ready to be put in the pan, then into the oven. With that accomplished, Mai washed up all the mixing bowls and spoons, dried them, and began setting them all back on the counter top. Examining all the items carefully to make sure that she had everything, Mai felt her brow wrinkle in puzzlement. Wasn't there another cookie sheet or two somewhere around here?

Then she remembered. The cookie sheets were tucked away in the topmost cupboards, where she couldn't reach. _Wonderful. I'll have to climb up on the counter or something._ With a sigh, Mai peered up at the cabinet, planning her attack. Mouth set in a determined line, she reached up and tried to grab the knob of the door, but fell short by several inches. _Darn it!_ "I hate being short sometimes," she muttered under her breath.

A shadow fell across her and a black clad arm reached above her to open the cabinet door easily. "You are absolutely hopeless," Naru said by way of explanation, handing her the cookie sheets.

Mai flushed. "Oh yeah?" she retorted. "Then why don't _you_ finish this up? Since I'm hopeless and all that?" She glared into Naru's dark blues eyes, trying valiantly not to drown in them.

She was failing.

"I don't cook." Naru's voice was hard and emotionless.

It was enough to rouse Mai out of her slight trance. "Naru," she said, "…Everyone cooks…"

"I don't."

"You mean you can't?" Mai was bordering on being gleeful right now. _Not so perfect after all!_

Naru glowered at her. Mai had to admit that it was a little bit cute. Just a little bit. She doubted that he would appreciate the comment though, so she kept it to herself.

Hiding her smile, Mai tugged on his sleeve lightly and commented, "That's no good. Come on, I'll teach you."

Naru dug in his heels. "No. I have work to do." Silently, he berated himself for getting involved in Mai's kitchen escapade. This was not going to end well.

"It can wait," Mai chirped dismissively. Barely managing, she dragged him over to the bowls and ingredients, and started to direct him. "We're making gingerbread cookies. Grab the sugar over there and the measuring cup." She showed him how then made him do the flour.

They discovered in a puff of flour dust that black was _not_ a good color to wear while cooking. Or, rather, Naru discovered it. Mai was overcome with a fit of giggles, doubling over and failing miserably to stifle them. How could she resist? Covered in white powder as he was, Naru did look extremely comical, though he was glaring daggers at the helplessly laughing brunette.

"You look like a B-movie ghost," Mai choked out, finally getting enough control over her giggles so she could move properly. Smiling widely, she grabbed a clean towel and thrust it under the faucet, soaking it through. She wrung out the excess water, eyes bright with laughter.

Naru was busy being torn between anger and amusement, but decided that anger gave less away. He wasn't going to let Mai know about that indefinable feeling he got around her. That would be completely unacceptable.

Without thinking, Mai reached out and wiped a large patch of flour off Naru's cheek.

They both froze.

Mai's eyes widened and she blushed a bright pink. _I can't believe I just did that!_ "S-sorry," she stammered, hastily dropping her arm. She found a spot on the wall and stared at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

The only sign that Naru was as surprised as she was that his eyes had widened just a fraction. An almost invisible fraction. Mai couldn't hear his slightly accelerated heart rate, couldn't feel the tightening in his chest. Trying to keep his emotions in check, Naru quickly snatched the damp down from Mai's hand and finished cleaning off his face. _Must think clearly…_ he told himself silently.

Kicking herself mentally, Mai turned around and located a small hand held vacuum. "Um, I'll just finish cleaning this up then…" Her face was redder than a tomato.

"Mai?"

She turned around reluctantly. _He's going to yell at me for sure,_ she thought, wringing her hands around the Dirt Devil.

Instead of a lecture, though, she found a glob of cookie dough splattering on her face. A whisper in her ear commented, "Payback. There's a reason I don't cook."

Mai stood rooted on the spot, stunned, as Naru exited the room.

"I… I can't believe he just did that!" Mai murmured. A spark of anger flared. "Naru!" she yelled, "I'm going to get you back for that!" She marched out of the kitchenette to his closed office door. Hands on her hips, she continued, "I'm going to make you cook everyday until you apologize! Do you hear me?! I will!"

She never saw his smile.

Naru supposed a few cooking lessons wouldn't be _so_ bad.

* * *

(A.N.) Well, that's it for now. Keep those **reviews and suggestions** coming!


	5. Ballroom

Disclaimer: What else could you possibly think? That I own it?

One, Two, and Three

(A.N.) Damn, everyone. I'm pretty sure that my computer has disappeared under all the suggestions you all supplied. Thank you! This installment is the dancing one that a quite a few of you asked for. Specifically, a thanks for the suggestion to **PsychicOtaku12**, **Blue Sonnet**, and **cupidsangel** for their contributions. Oh, and this ficlet hasn't been beta'd, so there may be some errors that my ill little self has missed. Enjoy!

* * *

Mai's cry of frustration was audible across the school grounds. Dancing was so not her thing. Or rather, ballroom dancing wasn't. She was Japanese, what use could she possibly have for ballroom dancing? That's what she'd thought before the "invitation". Actually, it was more of a business function. A client was hosting it to thank SPR for accepting his case. It was a dance.

A formal dance.

A _Western_ style formal dance.

Naru was making her go, the evil narcissist that he was, so Mai had to find someone to teach her how to ballroom dance. She'd thought that she'd lucked out when a classmate of hers, Akitaka, had overheard her dilemma when she told her friends and had offered to give her free lessons. There was just one problem…

It was absolutely infuriating. Well, he was infuriating. He was worse than Naru was! Mai hadn't even known that was possible till the lessons started. He yelled at her constantly, was rough with her, and never said one nice thing to her. There was only so much Mai's self-esteem and ego could take before she finally snapped.

"You jerk!" she hissed between clenched teeth, rubbing her arm to ease the pain. He'd grabbed her far too hard. "That hurt!"

Teeth bared in a hideous snarl, Akitaka snatched her wrist in a tight grip. "Watch your mouth!" he commanded. "You'll do it until you get it right."

"The hell I am!" Mai growled. She didn't swear at people often, but she was so angry right now. "I quit." There. Now he would let her go and leave her in peace.

He didn't let go.

Tugging frantically, Mai tried to escape from him, but he held fast. If she kept pulling, her wrist would pop, she just knew it would. _A little help would be nice right now!_ she thought silently.

"No one quits on me," Akitaka said angrily. He raised his free hand to strike her.

Eyes closed, Mai braced herself for the inevitable impact.

"Mai!" a female voice screamed.

There was a smack of flesh to flesh, but neither of the flesh's owners was Mai. Slowly, she opened her eyes and was startled to find a coldly furious Naru prying Akitaka hands off her. She'd never seen Naru in such a rage, not ever. Another pair of hands pulled Mai backwards, away from the two men. Turning slightly to look over her shoulder, she found her friend Yuki looking down at her with wide, scared eyes.

"Yuki, what..?" Mai asked, confused. _What in the world is going on?_

Her friend flicked a nervous gaze over at Akitaka, who was currently cowering from Naru's wrath, and replied quietly, "Akitaka-_sempai_ has a reputation for being mean to girls, Mai-_chan_. I worried about you when I heard you accepted his offer for dance lessons, so I…" Another eye flick at the two men. "I called your boss to let him know. I asked him if he'd seen any bruises or other injuries on you. I was too nervous to ask you directly but…"

A loud thud interrupted Yuki's explanation. Both girls turned to find Akitaka crumpled on the floor, looking to be in pain (to Mai's delight), and Naru walking back towards them. With a nod to Yuki, he seized Mai and proceeded to drag her out of the school gym and into a car. Mai called good bye to her friend as the door closed behind them.

Lin was waiting patiently in the driver's seat, completely at ease. A question formed in his eyes when he saw a disheveled Mai and a still angry Naru. The black clad teen shook his head at his Chinese associate, a signal for "not now". With a shrug, Lin accepted that and started the car. The ride to the SPR offices was tense and silent.

Without realizing it, Mai had started to shake slightly by the time they arrived at the building. _He really meant to hurt me_, she said silently, allowing her disbelief to sink in. "He really, really meant to…" she whispered out loud. She rubbed her bruised wrist, wincing.

Naru was shaking too, the brunette noticed, but it was from rage. A deep, cold rage that was terrifying to see in her normally reserved boss. She didn't know, exactly, that Akitaka had hurt her. _How dare that bastard!_ Naru ranted in his mind. He wasn't completely sure as to why someone hurting Mai was so bothersome, but it was. The only way he could explain was that she was _his_. _His_ assistant. _His_ Mai.

And nobody hurt what was his.

Once inside SPR, Mai deposited her bruised body down on a soft couch and rested her head in her hands. Meanwhile, Naru and Lin went into the main office. Naru explained quickly and concisely, and then asked Lin to scout the next case site. Naru wasn't sure if the owner of the hotel was serious or not. They got a great deal of crazies coming into SPR. That was the way of it.

Hiding his knowing smile, Lin bowed politely and left after laying an uncharacteristically concerned hand on Mai's shoulder. She looked up long enough to offer the tall man a small smile of thanks.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Naru asked. Mai was surprised by the dark undertone in his voice. Clearly, his anger was far from gone.

The girl took a deep breath. "I thought it was my fault at first, but by the time I realized it wasn't…" She trailed off quietly, burying her face in her hands again tiredly.

Naru was far from finished with his interrogation. "What was your fault?"

"His anger. I don't know if you've realized this yet, but I'm a terrible dancer," Mai said, a matter-of-fact tone creeping into her voice.

Frowning, Naru commented, "I have a feeling that more from his incompetence than your lack of skill and coordination."

"You," Mai snapped, at the end of her emotional rope, "are terrible at being comforting, Kazuya Shibuya." She hoped that the use of his given name would be a big enough hint that she was serious and not in the mood for his narcissism.

"Get up." The command was quiet, but forceful enough to make her obey unconsciously. Sighing, he wrapped a hand around her arm and led her to floor space that was currently unoccupied by furniture. Then, she stopped and faced her squarely, adjusting his grip so that he was holding her right hand with his left. He placed her left hand on his shoulder, proceeding to wrap his arm around Mai's waist.

Mai was sure that her face could not get any redder.

Naru pushed on her back lightly, moving her close enough so that their bodies were brushing.

Scratch that. _Now _she couldn't get any redder.

Quietly, Naru instructed her to move her right foot back, then slowly began the lesson on the basic box step. "It's about whose leading. If the leader is incompetent and his partner can't trust him, then the dance falls apart. Do you understand, Mai?"

Through her sheer delirium from the experience, Mai managed to nod her head. _I'm dreaming_, she swore to herself, _It's a wonderful dream, but a dream nonetheless. I'll wake up soon, surely._

"One, two, three," Naru counted softly in her ear, putting pressure on her lower back in time with the count.

_It isn't ending. _Mai was shocked through and through. What had brought this on? Was he mad that she hadn't gone to him for help? Was it his pride that was leading him to show her his expertise in ballroom dancing?

And then, the biggest question of all: Did she care?

_Nope. Not really._ This was a rare experience to be savored, like Belgium chocolates. Sure that everything had disappeared except for Naru; Mai simply closed her eyes and responded to Naru's baritone voice. "One, two, and three…" she whispered with him, spinning easily in his arms.

Dancing wasn't so hard, after all.

Lin smiled slightly when he cracked open the door two hours later. Naru and Mai were still waltzing smoothly. Laughing to himself, he closed the door quietly and left them alone. He had a great deal of common sense, after all.

oOo

The ball was spectacular. The decorations were beautiful, the liquor plentiful, and the laughter abundant. Everyone was having a good time.

Well, at least with the exception of Masako Hara. She sat at one of the tables, glaring at the dance floor.

Takigawa and Ayako were twirling expertly through the other dancers, clearly happy with each other's skill and presence. Yasuhara had left a while ago to talk with a shy girl who absolutely refused to dance. They were talking to each other, tucked away in an intimate looking corner. John was in the middle of a rather serious conversation with some theologists at the table next to Masako.

Even Lin was enjoying himself, she noted, peeved. The tall man was dancing gracefully with a beautiful woman who had dragged him out onto the floor with her.

But the real source of her irritation was smack dab in the middle of the room.

Naru and Mai were dancing together easily. Only the couples closest to them heard them saying in unison, "One, two, and three… One, two, and three…"

* * *

(A.N.) Sappy enough? In character? Let me know! And also, the next one will probably be the Valentine's Day one, but if that doesn't happen, then you'll get it in March for St. White's Day. Either way, an exchange of gifts/chocolate will happen! I swear! Another dancing fic will also happen sooner or later. Ballroom is what everyone meant when they said dance, but I think a different version would be fun. . REVIEW!


	6. Sunshine

Disclaimer: Maybe I should sing a song…

Learn to Appreciate the Sunshine

(A.N.) Thanks to all reviewers and to anyone who provided suggestions. You guys are awesome. A lot of you asked for a more Valentine's Day centered fic, so here is my attempt. Specific credit for the suggestion goes to **Lian**, since she said it first.

* * *

"Mai, what are you doing? You have paper work to fill out." 

"I finished it, Naru. Now, I am working on something else."

"Which is?"

"Haven't you ever seen a paper heart before?"

"That's a heart? I was under the impression it was an egg. A broken egg."

Pausing in her industrious snipping, Mai huffed and glared at her boss. She was surrounded by her efforts with the red and pink paper, the hearts and doilies piled up haphazardly on her desk. "It does _not_ look like broken egg," the brunette informed him defensively."

Naru raised a mocking eyebrow. "It most certainly does. Which is why it has no place in this office." His voice was completely devoid of anything but cool command. As usual.

"You really have no heart, Naru!" an exuberant voice announced as the door to the office opened.

"Monk-_san_!" Mai exclaimed happily. It was always nice to see him. It was like having the big brother she'd never had. She stood up from her chair and asked politely, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Sure. You have any coffee brewing about? I'm bone tired." The monk flopped down onto the couch, sprawling lazily. "My band has been doing Valentine's Day parties nonstop for a week! A week! Can you believe that?" he demanded, gesturing wildly. "It's ridiculous!"

During his tirade, Mai had exited the room and then reentered with his requested cup of caffeine. "So that's why we haven't seen you in a while. You must be exhausted." She set the cup down on the coffee table with Monk-_san_'s reach.

"You have no idea, missy," the blond man groaned, gulping down the drink. He didn't even let it cool. "And then tomorrow, on the actual day, we have another gig! Another one! These people are crazy for this holiday. We've done dances, anniversaries, and functions. All those hearts and sparkles are really starting to get to me. If I have to play one more sappy love song, I'm going to chop off my ears."

Mai giggled. "But that's the whole idea! All the hearts and sparkles, I mean. It's about being romantic and letting your friends and family know how much you care about them." Despite her efforts, Mai's thoughts strayed to a certain narcissist during her little speech. It was all she could do not to blush a little bit. _If only…_ she thought wistfully.

Naru had to force himself not to show obvious dislike on his face. He really detested holidays like Valentine's and St. White's. Both dedicated to "love". Of all the useless and ridiculous things to celebrate, love was high on his list. People might as well celebrate death, in his opinion. _Oh, wait. They do. Well, that explains it_, he thought sardonically.

Unaware of Naru's criticism, Mai and Monk-_san_ were still discussing Valentine's Day.

"What are your plans for tomorrow, Mai-_chan_?" Monk-_san_ asked slyly. "Is there a guy I'm going to need to have a long talk with?"

Neither of them noticed that Naru bristled at the monk's question. _Over my dead body_, Naru's subconscious growled. The rest of the ghost hunter's mind stomped viciously all over the voice. It wasn't any of his business who Mai chose to date, though he did decide that he would also like to meet Mai's date and have a "talk" with him. His subconscious was smiling in a satisfied, menacing way, imagining all the topics to cover. _Ghosts, murder, where he lives…_ _Ah, the possibilities_.

Mai's slightly embarrassed reply interrupted his traitorous subconscious. "Ah, no. I'm not going out with anyone tomorrow."

Monk-_san_'s eyebrows shot up. "Why not?"

Mai smiled lightly. "No one asked."

With a dissatisfied grunt, the blond heaved himself into a sitting position. "Idiots," he declared, sparing a pointed glance in Naru's direction. "All idiots. You don't know one brave or romantic soul, do you?" he asked dramatically.

Laughing a bit, she answered, "I guess not." She glanced at the clock reflexively. "Oh! I have to go. I still have errands to run before tomorrow." Quickly, she gathered up her things, paper hearts included, and waved goodbye to the two men in the room.

In the silence that followed her departure, Monk-_san_ observed, "A shame really, that she doesn't have a date tomorrow. If I didn't have to work, I'd take her somewhere."

Naru's subconscious started growling again. "Oh, really?" he asked aloud, berating the voice internally.

"Really. She's like a little sister, and I wouldn't want my little sister to be lonely on Valentine's Day, of all days. Too bad the other guys in her life can't take a hint at being slightly romantic, or considerate for that matter." The last comment was as vague as wording could be, but both of them knew exactly who the monk was talking about.

That didn't mean, however, that Naru was going to acknowledge the fact unless Monk-_san_ came out directly with what he was implying. "What do mean?" he asked coolly, seating himself in an armchair across from the monk.

"You know exactly what I mean, Naru," the monk replied seriously, "and if you don't, then I have clearly overestimated your common sense. You really need to learn to take a hint, you know that?" He was glaring quite angrily at the younger man.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naru snapped. _Nosy monk. He should just mind his own business._ "You've said nothing rational the entire time you've been here. You're intoxication with the holiday has clearly muddled your mind."

"You're stupidity has clearly muddled yours," Monk-_san_ retorted.

A thread of anger sprang up in Naru's chest. "I believe that you have somewhere else to be, Monk-_san_. You should go." His tone was icy and hard. No one told him what to do with his life, or even implied what he should do. That was not allowed. If he chose not to celebrate no-purpose holidays like Valentine's Day, then it was his business. His choice.

After a moment of glaring at each other, Monk-san stood stiffly. "Yeah, I guess I should." Stretching his six foot frame, he continued, "Mai's a good kid. She doesn't deserve the way you're ignoring her. Heed a lesson from an old man: buy her flowers and a card or something. She likes tulips. Pink and yellow ones, especially." He opened the door and stepped out. "Life is about the moment, Naru, and about the people around you. Mai's probably the best thing you've got. I suggest you learn to recognize and appreciate that."

The door shut with a ringing finality, leaving Naru to sit and think in silence. His more practical self was denying any sort of attraction to his assistant. The rest of him was remembering how warm her smile was, how her presence seemed to light up a room. It was an interesting feeling, having your mind fight with itself. Normally, Naru didn't hold with emotions like love. They were unreliable and unpredictable, a bad base for action and judgment. How could he function as a ghost hunter, finding logical solutions to the problem, if his view was clouded? The answer was simple: he couldn't.

But Mai didn't seem to think that was a problem. She let her emotions guide her, let her instincts and good nature rule her decision making. Even when it got her into trouble, she didn't change her tactics. It was irritating and refreshing at the same time. Naru always found himself in the predicament of how to protect Mai from herself. Which, he reflect, was odd. He didn't normally feel protective of others. There was a reason that people called him a narcissist, after all. Usually, he let others do as they pleased as long they didn't get in his way. But with Mai… She was so reckless that it was hard for him not to want to charge in and protect her. Frankly, he was surprised that she had gotten this far in life without killing herself with the way she handled things. She needed to be protected.

_Ah. The moment of truth_, his subconscious breathed. It sounded a bit surprised that he had finally come to the realization.

Resolutely, Naru stood and informed Lin that he had some things to take care of.

oOo

The next morning, Mai was surprised to have her lunch interrupted by a knock on her door. A delivery man handed her a huge bouquet of pink tulips with a smile. Bewildered, Mai signed for the delivery and closed the door.

Plucking the card out from where it was tucked among the blooms, Mai read the words with growing delight.

"_I'm learning to appreciate the sun,"_ were the words, written in Naru's neat handwriting. There was nothing else. Nothing else was necessary really.

Mai felt a warm tingling feeling swell up in her chest, a blush staining her cheeks. Without thinking about it, she raced out the door and caught a cab.

Across town, in the SPR office, Naru was staring pensively at the handmade card he'd received just moments before. It was made of cut out hearts and silver marker. _"Happy Valentine's Day, Naru. Love, Mai."_ Simple. So very simple.

He didn't notice that he had a visitor until someone rapped hesitantly on his office door. Expecting Lin, he said, "Come in."

In one of his rare moments of surprise, Naru discovered Mai entering the room. His subconscious did a brief leap of joy then curled up in contentment. The rest of him snarled at it.

Mai bit her lip uncertainly. "I, uh, I wanted to thank you for the flowers. That was nice of you." Her face was flushed a bright pink.

"No problem." Naru's reply a bit gruff. What was he supposed to say? Monk-_san_'s words came back to haunt him. _Mai's probably the best thing you've got. _His subconscious was agreeing perfectly, leaving the practical Naru the option of either ignoring it all or giving in a bit. Given how annoyingly persistent his subconscious was becoming, Naru decided to bend a little bit.

Standing, Naru asked coolly, "Are you hungry?"

He was answered with sunshine.

* * *

(A.N.) Okay. So this was more of Monk-_san_'s teaching. Not to mention the lesson was reather vague. Oh well. It's cute, right? (crickets chirping in the silence) ... Right? 


	7. HipHop

Disclaimer: I think I will sing next time. Much better use of space, really.

The Name of the Game

(A.N.) Ho hum... Well, thanks for all review and suggestions, as always. A big thanks to my beta, Serpent of Slytherin. She rocks. Read her stories. This shot is one of my own design, with a vague and almost non-existant lesson, but I like. Hope you all do too. Enjoy!

* * *

Music beat like a great heart through the underground club, the dancers moving liquidly to the rhythm like blood. The press of bodies was electric and the energy thick in the air. Some danced on the floor, others on the platforms. A live band played from the stage, rending lusty notes from their instruments. The club was called The Slots, since its location changed constantly, never the same twice in a row, just like the casino game machines. It was more of a party caravan, really, and a breeding ground for sex and drugs. Cops had been after it for years, but could never prove a damn criminal thing against the owners.

The Slots was also haunted.

Which was why Mai was there, dressed like every other girl who frequented the club. She knew the scene, had been to The Slots before with her friends, and knew how to dress. For once, the brunette wasn't wearing a skirt. You don't wear skirts to The Slots. Only newbies and exhibitionists wore skirts. Being neither, Mai wore long, dark jeans that had hot pink laces holding the sides together. She also had on a light pink tank top and wore long hot pink fingerless gloves on her arms. With a heavy chain wrapped around her neck with a kanji pendant (it read "love") and her scuffed sneakers, Mai was undistinguishable from the other girls who were dancing away to the pulsing beat.

Unceremoniously, Mai was pulled into the hot crowd by one of SPR's clients for this job. Noriko was a partner in the club, sharing it with her brother Taro. Or rather, she _had_ shared it with Taro. Taro was dead now, killed in a car crash two months earlier. It was his spirit that haunted The Slots. He had a bad tendency to break things, and terrorized some of the female dancers who caught his ghostly eye.

Noriko leaned close to Mai in the middle of all those writhing bodies and shouted in her ear, "You sure about this? Your boss is going to be mad as hell when he finds out!" She had to shout so she could be heard above the raging music.

Rather than shout back, Mai nodded. She knew Naru was going to be angry. He had, actually, forbidden her to set one foot back in the club after the ghost had taken a physical interest in her. However, once Mai had left the premises, the ghost went into hiding. Even Masako couldn't find him. When Mai had heard that, she'd tried to talk her way back onto the case, but Naru refused. "It's too dangerous for you, Mai," he'd said firmly.

_I'll show him_, Mai told herself stoutly. Scanning the platforms carefully, Mai spotted some dancers she knew from previous excursions to the club. She planned on being bait to draw the ghost out so that he could be exorcised. Ayako and Monk-_san_ were in on her plan, so long as nothing went wrong. If that happened, then they were reporting straight away to Naru about her antics. Ayako was out on the dance floor somewhere, watching and waiting. Monk-_san_ had temporarily hired on with the band tonight, and was also keeping watch.

Naru and Lin, as far as Mai knew, were in the base. Neither knew she was here.

That's what Mai hoped, anyway.

The name of the game was showing Naru a thing or two.

A new song started, with heavy drums and bass. It was an erotic song, meant for dancing. Noriko swayed with the beat, still waiting for Mai to give her the word.

"Now is good!" Mai yelled over the music.

With a grunt, Noriko gave Mai a leg up onto the platform, right into the midst of the familiar dancers. She knew them well enough to catch their nicknames, but never their real ones. Only idiots used their real names at The Slots. Here, Mai was called "Sunny", and she was greeted as such.

Taking a deep breath, Mai forced herself to let go of her shyness. It was always a conscious effort. The first time she'd come here with her friends, she hadn't been able to dance, but she got better at it. So much better that she rapidly became one of the best dancers around.

She forgot everyone watching her. _Let it go._ All she had to do was catch Taro's attention.

All she had to do was dance.

As the chorus of the song hit, Mai was as into the music as everyone else.

Then she started moving.

The effect was almost instantaneous: A space cleared around her, respecting admirers giving her enough space to spin and sway. Her hips swung, her legs stretched, her arms trailed over her body. Feet stomping, Mai tapped out a tandem beat to the drums. This was freedom. She jumped into the air, spinning, legs tucked. _This is flying._

Hip-hop was her specialty. She didn't have the right kind of grace for ballroom or anything with constructed steps. Hip-hop, on the other hand, let her keep moving. There was never _time_ for her to be clumsy when she danced like this, when she danced for real.

The name of the game was speed.

She felt a puff of air chill her hot and sweaty skin, but she didn't stop. Taro was with her now, watching her. Mai could feel him. But other than the ghost, no one approached Mai. Her acquaintances kept people back who didn't know. The ones who stayed away of their own accord already knew that you don't interrupt Sunny when she danced. If you interrupted her, then she stopped for the night.

No body wanted to Sunny to stop. She was amazing to watch, her body moving as if it was part of the air around her. Her steps were light and intricate, expert. Sunny was a true pro.

Mai looked across the throng of people and found Monk-_san_ with her eyes. She nodded deliberately at him. The signal. She didn't watch for his signal to Ayako to begin the exorcism. Taro would be too distracted with Mai to notice, so it should be relatively easy, even for the priestess.

But, just in case, Monk-_san_ was already making his stealthy escape from the stage to join Ayako. If Ayako failed, then Monk-_san_ would take care of Taro.

Mai was, however, completely uncaring of that fact at the moment. The music was in her blood now, roaring in her ears. A new song was starting, and it was fast. Fast and hard. Shifting, her body adjusted accordingly, throwing itself into the flow. She was peripherally aware of other dancers tentatively joining her, but they never got too close. The girls were more adventurous than the guys. The guys were content to watch the women until they were invited.

At The Slots, men knew the no touch rule: If she (or he) doesn't invite you, then you stay away. The bouncers were very protective of the woman at The Slots. Drugs may be common, but date rape and uninvited grinding was a big no. After the first few who violated the rules were dealt with, no one else tried.

The bouncers did so love to teach the men how to play the game right.

But the bouncers couldn't do anything about an uninvited ghost.

The black light bulb above Mai's head shattered, showering glass down on her and the other dancers. Only a couple took notice. Everyone else, Mai included, ignored it and kept moving. Another woman had danced up to her, and they started a Challenge. The other woman was good, Mai noted. The danced at each other, getting close and then pulling away. Body heat seeped into Mai's skin when they got close, only to evaporate when they parted. Another round. Then the woman spun away with a nod.

Mai had won.

Victorious battle was the name of the game for Mai when she danced.

More light bulbs shattered above. Glass caught in the hair of all the dancers, shimmering in the remaining lights. A strobe light flashed brightly, catching and reflecting the glitter of the glass. Mai had the vague impression of cold hands caressing her shoulders and knew it was Taro. A thrill of fear stole through her, almost disrupting the persona she'd taken on. But she held onto Sunny. As long as Mai wanted to dance, she had to hold onto that calm that she'd achieved. Swiftly, she twirled into a jump.

She landed and went to the floor, sliding. Back onto her feet, ankles crossed. Spin it out. Hands up, holding her hair out of her eyes.

A few people screamed when the bottles behind the bar next to the platform began breaking. Mai wasn't one of them. _Ayako and Monk-_san_ must have started the exorcism_, she thought, still moving liquidly. _Taro's getting angry._

The platform shook under Mai's feet, and she knew, in that instant, that it was time to abandon ship. More lights were fragmenting, sharp pieces flying through the air. Finally, Mai stopped dancing and tried to take cover like a few of the clubbers. She spotted Noriko ducking out of the way of a particularly large shard of glass. Most people, though, dismissed the flying projectiles, too caught up in the music or their drugs to care.

Across the room, Mai could see both Monk-_san_ and Ayako chanting their separate prayers. Both the Buddhist and Shinto words rose up, seemingly above the fast music. The priestess had her wand in her hand, the paper charms whispering as she sliced the air with it. Next to her, the monk had his prayer beads wrapped securely in one fist. His fingers moved in quick succession.

Mai could sense the tension in the air. Taro was fighting them. He knew that she had tricked him.

Then, like popping a giant bubble, all that tension burst and Mai could have sworn she heard Taro shrieking as he disappeared.

The platform stopped shaking, the glass stopped flying, and the people stopped ducking. In seconds, everything was as it was before the ghost's rage.

Mai saw Monk-_san_ give her a victorious thumbs-up and she smiled. _Ha! Take that Naru!_ He couldn't dismiss her from cases just because the spirit was after her. She'd proved that, with only a couple scratches to boot.

Heading for the edge of the platform, Mai was about to climb down when a hand on her arm stopped her. She looked behind her to find the woman from the Challenge grinning at her.

"Leaving already?" the woman asked.

"I got interrupted," Mai replied, a bit sad, "I can't get back into it now."

Nodding in understanding, the woman stuck out her hand, "They call me Kitsu. Remember me if you want to dance again."

Mai took the offered hand. "I'm Sunny and I will."

Kitsu melted back into the sea of humanity with a parting wink, leaving Mai to descend onto the floor. Bodies closed in around her, but not oppressively. Heat from the people was welcome after her chilly encounter with Taro's spirit.

The brunette nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand clamped down hard on her upper arm from behind. Spinning wildly, Mai felt her face pale. Naru's face hovered above her, his eyes flashing with barely suppressed anger. Mai cringed. She'd hoped that she would avoid the initial onslaught of rage by not being available. She'd planned on heading home for the night.

_Uh oh… He looks really mad._ Naru pulled Mai out of the crowd, up the back stairs of The Slots' current location (an empty warehouse), and into the room that SPR was using as a base. With bruising force, Naru's fingers dug into her arm, into a scratch actually. His hand was vibrating in rage.

"You're hurting me," Mai said, feeling rather meek. _He's going to kill me! _I'll _be The Slots' new ghost!_

Slightly, his grip on her arm loosened, but not by much. It was too late, Mai figured, to save her skin from the bruise.

Glaring down at her, Naru growled, "You have to enjoy trying to get yourself killed. You do it extremely often." Mai squeaked as his hands tightened on her again. "What did you think you were doing? There was a very specific reason I took you off the case."

"I was fine! Nothing horrible happened!" Mai protested, trying to tug out of his hold.

"It was dangerous!" Naru half-shouted, pulling her back towards him.

She felt a small spark of anger flare. "No, it wasn't! We took care of it! You're just mad 'cause we did it without you!" She yelled in his face, not two inches from him.

His eyes sparked dangerously. "I'm angry because you could have gotten yourself hurt!"

Silence.

Mai had no words. No coherent ones anyways. "N-Naru…" As quickly as her anger had flared to life, it died. _He was worried… About me?_ she thought, stunned. She looked down at her sneakers, feeling a bit guilty. Biting her lip, she murmured, "I'm sorry."

"Idiot," Naru muttered, "You should have run as soon as the lights started breaking." Frowning, he pulled a large shard of glass out of her hair. His eyes were flashing again.

"I was dancing," Mai said by way of explanation. She was still very interested in her shoes.

"I know. I could see you on the monitors."

His ambiguous answer brought her head up, a nervous feeling coiling tight in her stomach. It was easy to ignore people when she was dancing but after…after, the embarrassment pretty much overwhelmed her. Like it was doing now. A faint blush was creeping up her cheeks and she unconsciously scuffed one foot against the floor. _I think I want the earth to swallow me now…_

"You're good at it."

Mai's mouth nearly dropped open and hit the floor. "Thanks," she stuttered out, flushed bright pink.

"But you could stand to learn a few things, of course."

"Uh…What do—?"

"I'll show you."

Naru certainly knew the name of the game.

* * *

(A.N.) OOC this time around? Yeah, probably... REVIEW! REVIEW!


	8. ESP

Disclaimer: Blurgh…

Calling For You

(A.N.) Well. Here's installement number eight. Lots and lots of thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and giving me suggestions. You've all been really helpful. For this chapter, I'm combining two different suggestions/prompts: the haunted mansion of Vol. 6 of the manga (supplied by **Neonlights**) and Naru coaching Mai to use her ESP more effectively (supplied by **miss koneko**). This shot is my continuation of the abrupt ending of Vol. 6, so I hope you all like it. Warning: may spoil the ending of Vol. 6 if you haven't read it. Just keep that in mind. Thanks!

* * *

_I don't want to die!_

Blood dripped down Mai's neck, warm against her fear chilled skin. The restraints bit into her writs and ankles painfully, the chains across her body were heavy with menace. Seeing that cleaver come closer and closer to her exposed throat, feeling that tight grip on her hair, Mai bucked frantically on the table. _I don't want to die!_, her mind shrieked. She had stopped trying to convince herself that this was all a dream that she would wake up from any second. This faceless shadow man was going to kill her and she wasn't going to wake up if he did. She was sure of it. But she still couldn't speak. She couldn't even squeak in fear. Her body felt heavy, almost like she'd been drugged. Panic fusing with every fiber of her body, Mai began hyperventilating, brown eyes following the descent of the knife.

Shock and pain ripped through her when the blade cut into her skin. _No! Oh gods, someone help! HELP ME!_ Screwing her eyes shut, Mai forced her voice to take shape, forced sound to come out of her mouth. It started off as a croak, but she tried harder. A full blown, blood curdling scream tore from between her lips, terror amplifying the sound a hundred fold. The knife wielder jerked back in surprise as she cried out.

Mai was only allowed a brief moment of relief. Another knife cut into her right forearm, biting deep and long between her wrist and elbow. Agony like nothing Mai had ever felt before spread through her. It felt like fire, like they were branding her. The pain was white hot and left Mai gasping wordlessly. She had no tolerance for pain. The first blade was lowered again towards her neck, its handler clearly recovered from his shock. She screamed again, managing to form one word: the name of the one person that she believed could rescue her. "NARU!" She found the breath to continue somehow. "HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! HEEEELLLP!"

When the butcher's knife sliced into her throat the second time, the world went dark for Mai. Dark and cold and bloody.

* * *

"_NARU! HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"_

Kazuya Shibuya started from a sound sleep, the terrified scream ringing in his ears as he laid flat on his back, cold sweat running down his skin. He sat up quickly, breathing harshly. "A dream?" he questioned himself quietly, running a trembling hand through his raven dark hair. He stared at the shaking limb in surprise. Had he really been that scared in his dream? Kazuya did not frighten easily, not even in his nightmares. What had made him so afraid?

"_HEEEELLLP!"_

Jumping, Kazuya was out of the bed in a flash, eyes searching alertly for the source of the shrieked plea. He knew that voice. It was Mai's. There was no way it was coming from inside the room he was sharing with Lin. It wasn't feasible, impossible.

Deathly silence closed in around him as he listened intently, trying to catch any other sound. But nothing, not one sound, reached him. The darkness was absolute. It was a new moon and the grounds of the Prime Minister's estate were nothing but shadow. Form lost its meaning in the darkness, transforming the world into a never ending pool of black that provided no path. Ears and eyes straining, Kazuya moved carefully to Lin's bedside and shook him awake easily. Lin was a reasonably light sleeper. "Something's wrong," Kazuya informed his Chinese assistant. "I want you to go down to the base and check all the monitors. I'm going to wake the others."

Lin rolled out of bed without question, knowing that his boss's instincts were rarely wrong. They weren't based on intuition like Mai's, but Kazuya Shibuya was perceptive in a way that few people were. He was aware of anything and everything, wired into his surroundings. If he said something was wrong, then something was wrong. Lin had learned that after working with the teen on previous cases that SPR had investigated. He swiftly made his way to the door, despite the total lack of light, and slipped into the hall.

Just as agilely, Kazuya followed Lin out of the room, but turned and headed in the opposite direction. He first encountered the room that Yasuhara, Takigawa, and John were sharing. He pounded on the door without preamble, loudly and persistently.

Grumbling incoherently, Takigawa answered the annoying knocking ready to kick whoever's ass it was that was disturbing him this late at night. He was surprised to find Naru standing on the other side of the door, dressed in black pajama pants and a black T-shirt. "Naru? What the hell are you doing? It's barely passed midnight!" the monk exclaimed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The kid had to be crazy or something.

"Wake John and Yasuhara. Something's wrong. Meet Lin in the base and help him check all the tapes we've recorded so far." Naru's voice was cold and informative. He gave no reason for getting Takigawa out of his nice, warm bed. At least, he didn't give a very good reason. And at this ungodly hour, Takigawa wanted an extremely good reason. When he opened his mouth to say as much, Naru held up a hand and cut him off expertly. "Now."

The teen departed, disappearing into the shadowy hall, before Takigawa could properly protest.

Kazuya felt an overwhelming sense of urgency the closer he got to Mai and the other girls' room. Unconsciously, his walk shifted into a jog, his feet carrying him almost silently through the corridor. He couldn't understand why he would dream of Mai screaming for help. It was inexplicable.

_Unless she's actually in trouble…_, a small voice whispered in the back of his mind. He felt his heart constrict at the thought. For some reason, Kazuya could not bear the idea of Mai being in position where she would feel the need to scream that she didn't want to die. It made him sick to think of it.

Fist colliding with the girls' door harder than necessary, he tried to slow the fast beating of his heart. Even before he'd started banging on the barrier, he'd heard movement from inside. Frantic movement. The door was yanked open and a wide-eyed Ayako appeared in front of him.

"Did you find her?" Ayako asked immediately, looking hopeful but yet afraid.

Kazuya frowned deeply. "Find who, Matsuzaki-_san_?" A sinking feeling in his stomach told him before the _miko_ answered him. Somewhere, a fear stricken voice said softly, _"I don't want to die…"_

Ayako stared at him in horror. "Mai. She's gone. Vanished."

* * *

Floating in pain, in blood… The dark nothingness around her squeezing her body…

Mai didn't know if she was dead or dying, only that she was afraid and hurt. She realized that she needed help. She needed help now. Little white and blue lights were dancing around her, soft little things that twined around each other. Faintly, whispers drifted through the air around her. The voices were too quiet for her to hear anything, but Mai suspected that if she listened, she could find out the secrets of the universe. Try as she might though, she could not make out the words. The lights buzzed around her, shedding their glow over her, allowing her to see herself. Crimson red stains spread all over her once white kimono, the kimono that she still didn't know why she was wearing. Seeing all the blood made Mai aware of the rivulets the thick liquid running down her neck and face, down her entire body. She could feel it against her skin, hot and heavy, as it slid from her wounds. There were now cuts all over her: both her arms, both her legs, the bottoms of her feet, her stomach, her neck, her upper chest… She was soaked in her own blood, drowning in it.

Opening her blood filled mouth, Mai choked out, "Naru… I… I don't…want…" Her eyes fluttered shut as the blood loss began to take its toll.

_I don't want to leave you._

Kazuya paced with a predatory energy in the base as Lin and Takigawa searched the tapes for any sign of Mai. Next to them, Yasuhara was listening carefully to all the audio recordings. Ayako cried silently, tears welling up continuously in her eyes, but she did not look way from the screens, hoping to spot the missing girl. Masako sat next to the _miko_, her tiny hands bunched in the lap of her sleeping _kimono_. John stood behind the young medium, one hand on her delicate shoulder and the other clutching desperately at the crucifix around his neck. Prayer moved the priest's lips feverishly.

"_I don't want to leave you…"_

Spinning suddenly, Kazuya looked around for the source of Mai's voice but, like the previous instances, he did not see anything. He'd hoped he would. A foolish thought, to be sure, but he'd hoped that foolishness would be right for once in his methodically lived existence. It, unfortunately, wasn't. Another nail in the coffin of optimism, so to speak. _I don't want you to leave me either, Mai._

"There!" Takigawa yelled, jabbing a screen with one finger. "Pause it, Lin! She's there! Damn it, pause all ready!"

Kazuya shoved the monk aside in a heartbeat, leaning close to examine the image on the monitor. Mai was, apparently, being dragged by two figures. One problem: the figures weren't visible on camera. She was sagged vulnerably between them, her feet looking like they were struggling to keep her from going forward. "Switch to thermal," Kazuya commanded Lin. The screen changed into an array of blues, greens, reds, and yellows. Mai's heat signature was a bright red. The two figures holding her were dark blue, indicating severe cold. Ghosts or some type of spirit.

The room he was examining was one of the more normal rooms that SPR had measured and analyzed. A study that had four walls with no freaky windows looking into other rooms or doors in the ceiling. The only thing strange about the room really was that its doors led outside. Not the normal place for a study to open up to.

Kazuya knew exactly where it was.

Grabbing a flashlight, he ran from the room as fast as his legs would carry him.

oOo

He was outside now, still sprinting like mad. Kazuya was amazed that he didn't even feel tired, not even a little. It had been easy to find the way to the study. He'd memorized the blueprints for the mansion ages ago. All he had to do was retrieve the information and call up the image in his mind. Instant map. A photographic memory had its uses.

Leaves and dead _sakura_ petals crunched underfoot as he slowed his pace so he could examine the ground. _Must think clearly. Don't let what's happening cloud your rationality, _the ghost hunter told himself fiercely, but it was hard. Mai in danger made him mad with fear and anger. His assistant was important to him, no matter what everyone else thought. It wasn't in his nature to be excessively kind, but he cared for Mai nonetheless. He took a second to organize his thoughts into some scientific order. The ghosts wouldn't leave footprints, but Mai certainly would. He knew that.

With calculated sweeping motions, Kazuya searched the soft ground for impressions. Precious minutes ticked away, the sand draining from the hourglass quickly. Forcing himself to work carefully and methodically was torturing him. What if Mai was hurt? His mind couldn't wrap itself around that possibility. Mai wasn't allowed to get hurt. It's why he was always there to make sure she was safe. It wasn't just coincidence that he was there to grab her when she was being pulled down that manhole; it wasn't luck that had him shielding her just in time from the falling infirmary ceiling. He'd always kept one eye on Mai, knowing that something would break inside him if something happened to her. She was such an engaging person, it made his soul glad to be around her. Kazuya didn't want to lose that, didn't want to lose her.

He finally found the drag marks in the soil and he followed them, but they were faint and he knew that they weren't going to be of much help in the absolute darkness.

"You to help me find you, Mai," he murmured, hating that he had to admit it. He hated needing help from others.

"_Naru…?"_ Mai's voice was faint and fine as gossamer. Fragile.

His heart skipped in hope as a plan formulated itself quickly in his mind. "Mai," he called out loud, "Can you hear me?" He concentrated hard, alert for her answer.

Her thin voice replied after a few antagonizing seconds. _"I…can…but you sound…far…far away…"_

"You need to concentrate for me, Mai. You need to focus on me and you need to talk to me. This is a crash course, so no slacking." It came out more gruffly than he'd intended, but Kazuya didn't try to correct his tone.

"_Okay… What do…I..?"_ Her voice faded in and out unsteadily, like a lullaby on the wind.

"ESP is hard to control for those with latent sensitivity. It's a natural sixth sense for you and you've never really tried to make it function to your specifications. That's going to make what you have to do extremely difficult," Naru explained to the open air, straining his eyes to follow the rapidly disappearing drag marks. He was in the maze now. "Telepathy is especially hard to control, to focus, if you've never done it before. It's easier if you are touching the person you're communicating with or touching something personal of theirs. You can do neither, so I want you to simply concentrate on my voice, Mai. Can you do that?"

Her voice was little stronger when she responded. _"I can do…that."_

"Good. Now, tell me what you can. Where are you? Is there anything that you can see or hear that will help me find you?"

"_I… smell blood, Naru… It hurts so much… I… I…barely…you…"_ She was losing her concentration.

"Mai! Focus. You have to do that or I won't be able to hear you anymore." Truthfully, Kazuya wasn't entirely sure how he could hear her now. Mai was only sensitive, and only latently at that. How in the world was she managing to communicate with him?

"_Ssssorry. I'm here…"_

"What about when those two ghosts dragged you out? What did you see after you left the study, Mai?" The tracks he'd been following finally ran out. He stood in the middle of the shrubs and waited, heart pounding, for Mai to speak.

"_There was a…a door. When it…opened…I… There was the smell of blood…everywhere. Then, stairs… Going up… and down…"_

Suddenly, it clicked in Kazuya's mind. There was a gamekeeper's house on the outskirts of the maze, overgrown with vines and rotting with age. No one had been there in years, as he recalled. Since no paranormal activity had centered around the building, it had been excluded from the investigation. Most of the grounds had, actually. With a little effort, he called to mind the map of the entire estate and mentally traced the route to the gamekeeper's house. "Mai," he called, "If you feel me coming closer to you, let me know. I know where you are, but it's hard to get to."

"_Come soon… I don't want to die…"_

_I won't let you die_, he promised silently, already taking off in the right direction.

Tick tock.

* * *

"_Stay with me, Mai. You have to learn to focus and concentrate or you're going to lose the connection. You have to learn to control your ability. It's easy if you don't let anything distract you."_

Naru's words dimly reached Mai through her daze. It was getting so cold, so hard to do what he instructed her to do. She was going numb now. Frankly, Mai thought that was a good thing. She hadn't been sure if she could do anything with all that pain burning through her body. Now, she didn't feel anything except the cold, which wasn't all that bad. "I'm…trying… Naru," she whispered through cracked lips. Blood leaked out of the corner of her mouth. "But it's…getting hard to breathe…"

"_Do it anyway, you fool. Don't you dare stop breathing."_

That was her Naru. Always giving orders. Mai smiled gently, content to think about him. She loved his eyes, his arrogance (much to her usual annoyance), and his oddly sardonic sense of humor. She loved so much about him. She just… She just loved him. Had for a while now. "Hey… Naru?" she ventured softly. If there was a better time for this, she didn't know what it was.

"_I'm almost there, Mai."_

The brunette girl concentrated hard to make sure that her next few words got through to him clearly. "This is…probably going to sound a bit dramatic… but… I don't think you're going to make it… I wanted you to know…" She faltered as it became harder to draw breath.

"_Don't waste your breath spouting ridiculous delusions. Of course I'll make it."_ There was a barely detectable thread of fear in his normally stoic voice. Mai wasn't really sure what to make of it.

"Just in case… I wanted you to know that I… I love you…Kazuya… Thought you…should know…" It took all of her mental focus to get the message through. But it was done. She could rest for a while. If she did live through this, then she could claim that she was saying weird things because of blood loss. It sounded like a good plan to Mai. The little lights were dancing around again, dazzling her with their soft illumination. Feeling Naru's flickering and bright presence nearby, Mai murmured, "You're close…"

It was the last thing she uttered before giving herself to blessed unconsciousness.

* * *

Kazuya burst into the gamekeeper's house, running to the stairs before he even really saw them. Absorbing only the briefest impressions of rotting wood and a musky copper odor, he began breaking down doors at the top of the stairs one by one. He could no longer hear Mai's voice in his mind. The realization that something was preventing her from talking to him filled him with a fear and anger so violent that he didn't know if anyone was going to be safe from him if she was… _No. You have no proof of that. Stay with the facts. It's better that way,_ the still rational part of his brain told him.

Another part his mind was cooing softly, _You don't know what you have until you lose it._

"Damn it," Kazuya grunted, using his shoulder to break open the last door. A long hallway greeted his eyes and, since none of the other doors had been hiding anything of use, he raced down it. It ended in another staircase, this one heading downward. Flashlight beam bouncing wildly over the perilous steps, Kazuya bounded down the stairs with single-minded purpose.

The door at the bottom, even with its lock, didn't stand a chance.

The smell of old and new blood assaulted Kazuya's nose, but he ignored it. Instead, he rushed forward to Mai's prone form. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, the substance black in the absence of good light. He gathered her in his arms and shook her hard. Her pajamas were soaked with the dark liquid under her body. Bleeding, apparently, from a wound in her neck and others on her arms and legs, mostly. Managing to hold Mai in one arm, Kazuya tore off the black shirt he was wearing and ripped it into strips. He bound each of the slashes and punctures with the material. "Wake up, Mai. Damn it, wake up!"

_I love you…_ his memory recalled in Mai's voice.

"Mai!" His voice shook with an emotion that was beyond Kazuya's ability to name. Someone else might call it a mixture of desperation and grief for a loved one. Kazuya simply settled on calling it pain. No, agony. It was agony.

A slight movement of eyelids made him shake her again. "Mai! Mai!" He called her name over and over again, the volume increasing each time.

When her eyes fluttered open, Kazuya thought he would die from relief. It was a strange feeling for him. He didn't usually let emotions like this rule him. He was a rational person. If it couldn't be measured with numbers, then what good was it? It wouldn't help him solve anything. But Mai… It was different with her. It always had been, ever since the first case. She was so charming… So warm… It was too hard to resist her completely.

"H-hey…" she rasped out, lifting one blood covered arm to rest her hand on his cheek. Her eyes squinted slightly. _"You made it,"_ she spoke clearly in his mind, smiling all the while.

Wordlessly, Kazuya swung her up into his arms bridal style and carried her away from the blood covered room. He didn't tell her about the corpse on the floor not three feet from where she'd been laying. If she hadn't seen it, he wasn't about to tell her. Not yet. He heart wanted him to tell her to never worry him like this again, to never leave his side, to tell her that he loved her back.

But that's not the kind of person Kazuya Shibuya was. "Well," he commented to the bleeding, but mostly conscious Mai, "at least something good came out of this."

"_What?"_

"You got a little more control over your ESP. Maybe now you could do useful things during our cases." Her eyes filled with the spark of anger that he loved to see. It made her eyes seem to glow with life.

_And, _he added silently to himself as he carried her to the other members of SPR and a waiting ambulance, _I learned a little something, too._ That voice was back again, whispering, _You never know what you have…_

Kazuya knew now. He wasn't going to lose her.

* * *

(A.N.) Thanks for reading. Drop me a suggestion/opinion! (Click the blue button... You know you want to... Just kidding. .)


	9. Sign Language

Disclaimer: If I did own Ghost Hunt, Mai and Naru would have definitely kissed by now.

No Words At All

(A.N.) Sorry I took so long! Don't hate me! I come bearing a one-shot! School is evil and has kept me from writing. But anyways, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I think this series is the most popular thing I've ever posted. . I'm writing down all the suggestions I'm getting, and I'm trying to figure out ways to work them in. Give some time if I haven't used your suggestion yet! For this one, I didn't use anyone's suggestions, but trust that I'm working on it!

* * *

_I think Naru has a definite aversion to sunlight_, Mai Taniyama thought to herself, sending a dark look at her boss's closed office door. All she'd wanted to do was open the stupid blinds, but no. No, it would ruin his dark and mysterious (note the sarcasm) ways. It was days like these that the brunette suspected that Naru was a vampire. She thought it would explain a lot if he was one.

Sighing, Mai stapled another heap of papers together. The fifty fourth stack, if she wasn't mistaken. Not caring where exactly the sorted papers landed, Mai tossed them off to her right in the general direction of the rest of her stapled products. She was bored. Very bored. Beyond bored, actually. Forlorn, she eyed the extremely large stack of papers waiting for her to sort and staple them. Not for the first time, Mai wished that she was pyrokinetic and that she could burn away all the paperwork.

If she didn't love Naru so much, she would have quit ages ago.

She wanted to something interesting to do with her hands other than gathering paper cuts. Speaking of, she needed to put on a couple new Band-Aids. The ones she'd put on an hour ago were already starting to fall off from her picking at their corners. Reaching into her bag, she rummaged around for a while, finally retrieving her economy sized box of bandages.

While Mai was re-covering the slim, painful cuts on her fingers, Lin walked out from the deep darkness that was Naru's private office. He frowned when he saw multiple Band-Aid state of Mai's hands. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"I had a fight with the papers and lost," Mai responded a bit crossly, struggling with a bandage meant for the area between her thumb and forefinger. A few seconds later, Mai cried out in triumph as she got the bandage to stick.

Lin shook his head as he returned to his computer and began typing. The girl was a hazard. The only time she was useful in an office setting was when she was making tea, in all honesty. Not to say he didn't like her as a person or anything, but he doubted that her future career (whatever it was) would include much office procedure.

An hour later, Mai had finished half of the pile papers she was working on and had just, seconds earlier, acquired another paper cut. The rest of the paper mountain was basically doing the metaphorical equivalent of laughing at her. She was sure of it. Barely managing not to lose her temper at the inanimate stack, Mai grabbed for her bag again. She needed another Band-Aid.

Naru came out of his office just in time to see Mai lose her balance and tumble from her chair. At the same time, the door to the S.P.R. offices opened, and two women entered.

The first woman was tall and had dark brown eyes and hair, which was pulled back away from her relatively pretty face. Light make up and a pristine brown skirt suit made it clear that she was a professional woman. She carried nothing in her hands. Her companion was shorter and plumper, her midnight hair cut to her shoulders. Dark sunglasses obscuring her eyes, the woman seemed more like a bodyguard, even though it was clear that she was not. The white, thin cane in one hand and the briefcase in the other were not things that a guard carried.

Blushing, Mai quickly jumped to her feet, exclaimed something about making tea, and practically ran to complete the task. She completely ignored Naru's irritated glance.

Looking at the two women who had just entered, Naru said coolly, "Please excuse my assistant. She's completely uncoordinated." He heard Mai huff in indignation from her place in the kitchenette and he resisted the urge to smile. Naru would never admit it, but Mai was cute when she was embarrassed. "What can S.P.R. help you with today?" he asked the women, motioning them to take a seat.

The professional looking woman touched the arm of her companion and led her to a couch. Feeling her way, the shorter woman set down her briefcase and sat down daintily, crossing her ankles and propping her cane next to her on the couch. Her friend sat on her other side, placing a delicate hand on her shoulder. Naru watched them intently, concluding that the black haired woman was blind. It was the only rational conclusion, really.

Sitting opposite them, Naru waited patiently for one of them to answer his question. Mai placed a steaming up of tea in front of him on the coffee table, and then moved to do the same for both women. He watched, slightly astonished, as she knelt down next to the blind woman and took her hand, guiding it to her cup and back. He hadn't thought that Mai would be perceptive enough to realize the woman's condition (though he supposed she would have to be blind herself to miss such obvious clues). The woman smiled in Mai's general direction. Her task accomplished, Mai sat down in the armchair next to Naru's.

Through all of this, neither woman moved to speak.

Naru's patience was starting to stretch a little bit. It took effort for him not to frown noticeably. About to repeat his question, he was almost startled when the first woman moved her hands in front of her, gesturing somewhat strangely. Pointing at herself, the woman used her other hand to motion about fluidly. She did the same for her companion.

The realization of what she was doing hit Naru like a train.

"That doesn't answer my question," Naru told the gesturing woman, cursing himself. "I'm afraid that I don't understand sign language." Of all the languages he had ever studied (and mastered), why had he never though to learn sign language?

Stopping her hands in midair, the woman frowned, and then sighed. Well, he assumed from the rise and fall of her shoulders that she sighed. No sound escaped her lips.

Mai, meanwhile, was following the exchange with barely suppressed amusement. _Finally! Something that he can't do._ "I guess he's not Superman after all," she murmured under her breath.

The tall woman has resumed gesturing, but it was exaggerated and slow. She was trying to help Naru figure out what she was saying. However, despite this effort, it clearly wasn't working. Naru shook his head at the woman, telling her that what she was doing was not helping him understand. Mai could tell that he was furious with himself for not ever thinking to learn sign language. Though, she couldn't see how it was his fault. Unless you were deaf, knew someone who was deaf, or planned on working with the deaf, then how does a person know if they'll ever need sign language?

_They can't, of course. Naru's just being Naru, taking all the blame and responsibility. Again. _The teen looked over at her handsome boss and decided that it was time to rescue him. She thanked the gods for letting her know Kaoru. Without her, Mai would have never learned to speak with her hands.

Mai used a wide sweep of one hand to draw the woman's attention, and consequently Naru's, to her and began to sign swiftly. Since it was clear to her that the woman could read lips, Mai spoke for Naru's benefit as she motioned. "I'm Mai. I work here as a secretary. Can we help you with something?"

The woman smiled at her gratefully, beginning to gesture again.

Glancing over at Naru again, Mai said, "I'll translate. 'I'm the Headmistress of Tokyo Institute for the Deaf and Blind. My companion is one of our students." The woman stood and handed Naru a business card, which gave the headmistress's name as Midoriko Asada. A handwritten notation at the bottom of the card gave the student's name as Fuyumi Oda.

Naru was amazed. Since when was Mai useful outside of her off and on clairvoyance? He knew that he didn't keep her around as an assistant. Actually, he'd never really thought about why he'd hired her. He'd noticed her potential for having psychic ability, of course, but he'd noticed that in numerous others. But Mai…

_No._ Mentally shaking himself, Naru turned his thoughts away from his musings. It didn't matter why he had hired her. All that mattered to him was that she not leave.

Without looking at the girl so prominent in his thoughts, Naru addressed his potential clients. "Why do you believe that you need S.P.R.'s services, Ms. Asada?" He noticed that Mai didn't bother to translate the question into sign language.

As Ms. Asada began to reply, Mai gave voice to what the motions meant.

"There have been many problems at the school. Students and teachers both have experienced strange things. Some hear voices in the halls when they are alone. Some have seen figures they can see straight through. We did not take it seriously when it was first reported, but…" Mai trailed off as the Ms. Asada stopped signing. The woman had turned to look at her student, her expression unreadable. Soon, her hands began moving again. "Students were attacked. Knives in the dining hall would fly around. Books in the classrooms would be thrown, but no one knows by who. Rooms were vandalized and almost destroyed. Then, Miss Oda was attacked in her dorm room." Another look at her student. "She has not spoken since."

When Ms. Asada stilled, Mai fell silent, frowning.

"Will you tell us what happened, Miss Oda?" Naru asked in the ensuing silence. Blue eyes watched intently as the blind woman fidgeted in her seat. It was almost as if she could feel his gaze on her. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Snapping her mouth closed, Miss Oda pulled off her sunglasses and revealed cloudy blue eyes with tears in them. "Tell us," Naru pressed.

Rising from her seat, Mai carefully knelt at the crying woman's feet and put a sympathetic hand on hers. Brightly, the brunette smiled at the woman and soothed, "It's alright. Take your time." Warm light seemed to fill the room when Mai smiled and Naru was once again floored by her absolute empathy for the people around her. It was one of the reasons he wanted her around him all the time. Her very presence made him feel warm inside.

Miss Oda shoved up the sleeve of her lightweight jacket with her free hand, revealing dark bruises on her forearm. Hand shaped bruises. Imploringly, she directed her eyes down at Mai and said, with what appeared to be great difficulty, "It hurts. All the time." With great care, she felt her way along Mai's arm and up her neck until she could cradle the girl's face between her hands. "I hear things. Whispers that say how much they want to hurt me."

Standing up, Mai wrapped her hands around Miss Oda's and lowered them, looking over at Naru. It was a pleading look. Something in her face made him want to hold her, but he didn't even make the slightest move to do so. Instead, he said to Ms. Asada, "We will take your case. We'll start tomorrow morning."

With Mai translating, Naru worked out some details with Ms. Asada and assured her that S.P.R. would do its best to figure out what was happening at her school. When the two women left, Naru turned his sapphire eyes on Mai. "Where did you learn sign language?" He was struggling with the idea that Mai had learned it on her own.

Clearing the used tea cups from the table, Mai answered cheerily, "My best friend in junior high was deaf. Her name was Kaoru Fujiwara. I could never figure out why she wouldn't talk to me when we first met, but I figured it out eventually. She taught me how to sign so that we could talk." She glanced over at him with a look he recognized. The impish one that said she was making fun of him. "Why didn't you ever learn? I thought you knew _everything_."

_Is it just me, or is she very satisfied with the fact that I don't know how sign language?_ Looking into her brown eyes, he decided that she most definitely was. "I know more than you do. Perhaps if you actually tried to learn something in school…"

"You," Mai snapped, "are an insufferable jerk." Her face was flushed a little in annoyance. She stormed away into the kitchenette to put the dirty cups in the sink.

Naru smiled in his mind. She was so easy to bait.

Lin, silent during the entire time the two women were there, finally spoke. "Naru, you do realize that you've taken a case that will put you in an odd position don't you?"

"Odd position?"

"You are going to a school where many are deaf and only use sign language to communicate. Surely you didn't forget that part."

"I didn't forget," Naru told his guardian coldly. "I'll think of something."

Sternly, Lin responded, "That something should include asking Taniyama for help."

"Help for what?" Mai asked, re-entering the room.

"Nothing," Naru ground out from between clenched teeth. He didn't need help. Glaring, Lin stared at him from his computer.

"Let me guess," Mai suggested, smiling brightly. "Sign language?"

Now it was Naru's turn to glare. Without missing a beat, Mai motioned at him, then back at herself. Fluidly, she moved into a new set of motions, never pausing. One motion had her arms cross themselves over her chest, almost as if she was hugging something to her. Only Mai knew what she had said. _Love you, Naru._

Naru glared a bit more, and then returned to the armchair he'd been sitting in before. "Fine."

Mai practically skipped over then sat on the table in front of him. It put them knee-to-knee. "First lesson," she said, holding up a single finger, "is always use your hands." Seizing the aforementioned limbs, she held them up between them. "Always within view of the person you're speaking to. Okay?"

Hyperaware of her hands holding his, Naru nodded. Was she always this warm?

"'Kay. We'll start really simple. The alphabet, starting with 'A'." She demonstrated.

The hours passed in a whirl for both Mai and Naru. By the time the sun set, she had taught him a lot of basics, and he remembered every single one of them. He remembered, he knew, mainly due to his phenomenal memory. But also knew it was because his body would always remember where Mai had guided his hands.

Even as the sky outside became darker and darker, she continued to teach him to speak without words. Maybe when he learned, he would be able to discover what her heart had been saying silently for months.

* * *

(A.N.) I'm actually not sure if I like this one... Oh well. Let me know what ya'll think. .


	10. Magic

Disclaimer: I wonder what would happen if I stopped writing disclaimers… Would someone really sue me?

Just Like Magic

(A.N.) Hello again! Spring Break has slightly revitalized my imagination, so I typed this up on a whim. It's based on a prompt made ages ago by **strawbrrygashs**, who wanted to see Mai and Naru locked in a room. The "lesson" isn't really clear to the end and is a really weak theme, but it's there. I promise. Thanks to everyone who's been reveiwing and suggesting stuff. Love to you all!

* * *

Weak light from a single electric bulb overhead flickered precariously over the room. Cream walls and gray carpet gave the space a very generic and dreary feel. There were no windows, no pictures or paintings on the walls, and only one door. All that occupied the room was a few dusty boxes marked "THIS SIDE UP" (with the arrow pointing at the floor) and some once white furniture covers strewn about the floor.

Well, that was _almost_ everything…

"How does this always happen?" Mai Taniyama asked, glaring at the closed and locked door. "Do I have a sign on my head that says 'Please trap me in weird places'?" Knocking on the door for what must have been the billionth time, she looked over at the person trapped in the dusty hell with her, clearing expecting an answer.

Emotionlessly, Naru leaned against a wall and watched Mai's fruitless attempts to draw someone's attention to their currently jailed state. "No. You just lack common sense. That's how you always managed to get in trouble."

"Hey, you're trapped in here with me! If I lack sense then so do you!"

"This is the first time I've ever gotten locked into a room against my will. You, on the other hand, have done so on numerous occasions."

Mai glowered at him, but decided it was safer just to keep her mouth shut. No one won a verbal battle with Naru. In fact, anyone who tried usually left with a wounded ego or with murderous intentions towards the handsome teen. Exhaling heavily, she turned towards him and slid down the door so that she was sitting with her knees curled into her chest. She wrapped her arms around herself and rested her chin on the tops of her knees.

Still standing, Naru glanced around the almost empty room. When his eyes fell on the camera that he and Mai had come to retrieve, he had to resist the urge to kick the damn thing. It was because of the camera that he and Mai were trapped. An hour earlier, they'd walked in, intent on packing the camera and its corresponding cables and wires since their current case had just been solved. Then, all of a sudden, the door had slammed closed behind them and had been locked from the outside.

"Someone's going to find us, right?" Mai inquired softly. Her free spirit demanded that she move around all the time and not stay in one place, making it so that she really hated to be locked up. It wasn't claustrophobia per se, but it just scared her when there wasn't a clear way out.

"Of course. They're not blind. Our absence will be noticed and then they'll come looking for us," Naru answered a bit impatiently. Gracefully, he sat down on the floor about a foot away from her.

Feeling a squeezing sensation around her heart from his close proximity, Mai wished silently, _I hope they come looking soon.

* * *

_

Houshou Takigawa was completely thrilled with himself. Operation: Beauty and the Narcissist was officially in motion. _Really_, he thought to himself smugly, _I thought it'd be harder than that. Just a little shove and a twist of a key, and it was all taken care of. _Happily, he fingered the aforementioned key in his jacket pocket. Now, all that had to be done was to make sure that no one stumbled in on Mai and Naru.

He'd been hoping to have the opportunity to pull this off for a while. It was clear to him that Mai and Naru were just made for each other. For the love of the Buddha, they bickered like a married couple! All they needed was push in the right direction and some alone time, then BAM! Just like magic, they would both be happy.

Or rather, they would be a bit happier. Without the bam, too. Naru wasn't the kind of guy who just had miraculous revelations about his personal life. _Ruins all my fun_, the former monk thought ruefully, shoving his recently cut hair back from his face. _Oh well. It'll still go well. I'm sure of it._

Whistling a random tune, Takigawa opened the door to S.P.R.'s base and gave everyone present (which was just John and Masako…) a beaming smile.

"You look happy about something," John remarked pleasantly, rolling up some long cables.

"Nothing special," the monk answered, still smiling widely. "It's just a good day."

* * *

A half-hour had passed since Mai's silent wish and no one, not even a rebel dust bunny, had come looking for her and Naru. Then again, the dust bunnies didn't have to look since they were all in the same room with the two teens. _All _of them. Mai watched in idle curiosity as the gray tufts of lint shifted slightly each passing second. _Is it just me_, she wondered, _or are all the dust bunnies watching us?_ As soon as the ridiculous paranoia of this thought struck her, Mai shook her head and blinked. This room was driving her nuts. Her fingers had started to drum restlessly on her curled leg.

A sidelong glance at Naru revealed his relaxed form and expression. With his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest, the raven haired ghost hunter might as well as been asleep. _How in the world can he be so calm?_ Mai thought in awe. Even if they weren't in any danger, you'd think that Naru would at least be a tad restless from being locked in a room for an hour and a half. She stared at him for a good five minutes, watching the rise and fall of his chest, unconsciously changing her own breathing pattern until it synchronized with his.

Without even opening his eyes, Naru broke the peaceful silence, "What is it, Mai?"

The girl squeaked in surprise and blushed furiously. _His eyes are closed, damn it! How did he do that?!_ "N-nothing!" she exclaimed, heart in her throat. Trying to restore her heart rate to something that resembled normal, Mai ran her hands over her face and resisted the urge to groan hopelessly. To top off her caged restlessness, she just _had _to be trapped with the one person who could make her weak by his very presence. Of course. This was twisted karma for that spider she'd killed the day before. She just knew it was.

Twenty torturous minutes later, Mai's foot started tapping frantically on the carpeted floor. She could clearly hear the ticking of her wrist watch and a corresponding tick was developing in her jaw. The longer the ticking lasted, the faster her foot beat against the floor, the more her jaw muscle twitched. Not bothering to be gentle, Mai whacked her head against the door purposely. Anything to distract her from the monotonous ticking of her watch.

"Mai?"

"Yes, Naru?"

"What are you doing?"

"Entertaining myself, of course."

"Really?" A cold smirk stretched Naru's lips. "I thought that you were just intentionally making yourself less intelligent. You shouldn't, you know. You need all the brain cells you currently have if you plan on functioning in the world."

"I am so very close to hating you right now," Mai grumbled, knowing that it wasn't true. She could never hate Naru. She could get annoyed with him, sure, but she could never hate him.

But he didn't need to know that.

She turned to glare at him in her normal irritated way, but stopped when he caught her eyes with his. _Those eyes should so be illegal_, she thought hazily. _They're way too magical._ Unconsciously, she leaned towards him, the fish lured to the bait.

When Naru blinked a few seconds into their stare, Mai found herself released from her slightly hypnotized state. She drew back from him again, back from a sapphire ocean and into her own world where everything was gray.

She could hear her watch's tick-tocking again and wished she could make it magically disappear.

* * *

Takigawa was still in a euphoric mood when Lin and Ayako came in the disassembled base looking for Naru and Mai. Both questioned the monk, priest, and psychic as to the teens' whereabouts, but no one knew where they were. Well, except Takigawa of course, but he just lied and said he hadn't seen either of them since S.P.R. had split up to start packing equipment.

Ayako frowned worriedly at the news that Naru and Mai seemed to be missing. "Perhaps we should go looking for them."

"I agree," Lin said quietly, "Naru does have a habit of disappearing, but he usually tells me before he does so. And Mai doesn't vanish unless she's in trouble." The tall man looked over everyone in the room. Masako sat primly in a chair, but her hands (even concealed by her heavy kimono sleeves) were wringing themselves delicately. Across the room from her, John packed away the last of the wires in a box. Takigawa, sprawled in another chair, looked insolent as always. "Let's split up."

Takigawa sprung to his feet. "I'll take the basement."

Nodding silently, Lin acknowledged the statement and assigned the others search areas. Ayako and Masako would search the first floor of the school, while John and himself would take the second.

_Crisis averted_, Takigawa thought, relieved and feeling a bit triumphant. _Just a little longer…

* * *

_

Mai didn't think she could bear it anymore. Three hours had gone by. Three hours of the most painful ticking ever in the history of man. She had long ago gotten to her feet and begun pacing. From one side of the room to the other, she walked and tried not to give in to the murderous intentions she had towards her watch. Dizziness was starting to set in, her vision swimming a bit and making the room seem even smaller.

Tick. Tick. Tick…

Trying to count to ten, Mai did her best to ignore the constant keeping of time. _One, two, three…_ The spasm in her jaw did not ease or cease. Oh well, counting had never worked before this anyways.

"Sit down," Naru commanded, a thread of annoyance lacing his cold voice. "You're annoying me."

Tick. Tick…

_That's it!_ A harsh and strangled cry escaped her lips as she tore the leather band from her wrist. With all her might, Mai flung the evil thing against a wall and prayed that it would, for once in its mechanical existence, shut up.

"I believe I told you to sit down, not to throw a tantrum," Naru said crossly. Mai was not behaving like herself. He'd seen her distressed, but this was something completely new.

Resuming her pacing, Mai averted her eyes from him. Every time she looked at Naru, the room seemed to get narrower. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly, all the while wondering why she didn't just ignore him. "I just… I just really hate being locked up." She kicked a wall for emphasis. "If I could just distract myself then I wouldn't be so…" Her hands flew up wildly, trying to communicate something she couldn't quite name.

Sighing, Naru stood, resigned. Mai was back to her pacing and she began to mutter to herself rapidly. If Naru would have been asked, at that moment, he would have said that she was having a breakdown. He supposed it shouldn't surprise him. Mai was a person who loved moving around freely. A creature of the wind and sun. Naru, on the other hand, was perfectly content to stay in one place, silently, for long periods of time.

The two of them were so completely different.

_You know the saying…_, a small voice whispered in the back of his mind. _Opposites attract. It's a basic law of the physical world._

Mai, ignorant of Naru's internal dialogue, continued her rambling. She wove her way through the boxes and dusty linens. Every once in a while, her foot would get tangled in one, but she shook it off easily. Frustrated, she ran her hands through her hair compulsively, pausing only to kick the locked door that stood between her and daylight.

Hands caught her by the shoulders as she started another round. "Mai. This is ridiculous. Calm down."

"I don't want to calm down, I want out!" Mai pleaded. She stared up at Naru and felt the very air press down on her skin. It wasn't helping.

An unreadable expression crossed his handsome features for a millisecond, then he smirked slightly. Subtly, he twitched his fingers, concentrating on Mai's discarded watch, and felt the timepiece sail into his palm. "If you don't calm down, then he won't come out."

Mai paused long enough in her panic to be confused. "What?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Naru's hand reached passed her head and felt the barest brush of his skin against her ear. Her breath caught and her heart raced. Blushing, she realized that they were no more than a foot apart. When the hand returned, the face of her watch (_Where did the strap go?_) was captured lightly between Naru's fingers. _When did he...? _It was just like that time at Yuasa High School, in the manhole. Involuntarily, a smile light up her face. "I never figured out how you did that…" she said, watching in fascination as the watch face vanished from Naru's hand as he closed his fingers and reopened them.

His smirk widened. "Of course you didn't." When she scowled at him, he pulled the small object from where he had concealed it and brought it into her sight skillfully. Just like magic. "Hold your hands out." He flicked it into the air as if it were a coin, letting it fall into Mai's waiting hands.

She stared in astonishment for a bit at him then smiled brightly. Closing her hands around the watch face, Mai said, "How _do _you do that?" Curiosity lit her entire face up, just like her smile lit up the drab room.

"Don't you know that you should never ask a magician to reveal his secrets?" Naru asked in reply. He loved teasing her.

"I thought you said it's not magic," Mai retorted. "What's with this 'magician' stuff?"

Naru almost smiled indulgently, but restrained himself to his usual smirk. "Would you rather the term 'con artist'? That's what it is, you know. A trick. Slight of hand."

"No, I wouldn't. Ruins the whole idea." In her eyes, Naru detected a fragment of sadness. "Everyone should believe in magic, even if it's not real." A grin crept its way back onto her lips. "Besides, it's a wonderful trick."

Naru, deciding to avoid the battle, did not mention that he didn't really believe in magic. He never had, to his knowledge. He did, however, find comfort in the fact that the trick had pleased her. "Feeling better?" he questioned coolly. Couldn't let her know that he was satisfied with her reaction.

"Hm? Oh, yeah." She looked up at him gratefully. "Thanks, Naru." A faint shade of pink stained her cheeks.

Keeping his face perfectly and carefully blank, Naru shrugged and stepped away from her. It was a more difficult action than he thought it would be.

Mai also took a step backward, but found her foot catching on one of the many heavy cloths pooled on the floor. Almost in slow motion, she felt her center of gravity shift abruptly as her foot slid out from under her. She pitched her weight forward, trying to restore some of her balance and save herself from an embarrassing fall, but failed miserably.

She fell, arms wind-milling, straight into Naru and both of them crashed to the floor.

* * *

His watch read 5:06. Takigawa figured that it was time to let Mai and Naru out of the basement storeroom he'd locked them in. After all, surely three and a half hours was enough.

Humming cheerfully, he strolled casually down the dusty hallway leading to the room and stopped in front of the door. He took a moment to school his features into the proper frantic concern that he ought to be feeling, and unlocked the door, flinging it wide open.

The sight that greeted him was very unexpected, to put it gently.

_I knew it would work, but this is a little beyond my expectations…

* * *

_

It was a very…compromising position.

Mai couldn't, at first, figure out why the carpet was suddenly black. Nor could she quite understand why the mysteriously black carpet was warm beyond belief. Then, it came back to her that what she was lying on was not the carpet.

It was Naru.

Feeling her face heat up, Mai tried to push herself up and off her boss, but instead managed to get her hands tangled in yet another yellowing sheet. "S-sorry!" she stammered. It took everything she had to make herself try to get off him. If given the choice, she wouldn't have moved at all and would have just luxuriated in the feel of the closeness of their bodies.

Naru had far better control of himself than Mai did and, therefore, his face did not exhibit the blush he knew would be there otherwise. More calmly than he felt, he untangled Mai's hands from the infernal cloth on the floor and was about to help her off him when the door opened.

"Well," Takigawa began, shock written all over the older man's features.

Slipping an arm around Mai's shoulders to steady her (but also, inadvertently, keeping her from effectively scrambling too far away from him), Naru cut him off; "It certainly took you long enough. We've been trapped in here for three and a half hours."

"You don't seem too damaged by that fact," the monk observed, amused and seeming far too pleased.

Naru glared at him over Mai's head as he helped the girl up. That repressed blush he was hiding was threatening to break over his skin, but Naru refused to let it. It was completely unreasonable.

Blushing furiously, Mai wobbled on her feet and glanced over at Takigawa. _How in the world does the happen to me?_ she wondered yet again.

The monk smiled in a brotherly fashion at her, mischief gleaming in his eyes. "Everyone's been looking for you two. We should probably hurry up and let them know that they can stop looking for you both. I'll even be nice and not mention this little incident to anyone." He winked at the two teens, stooping to grab the camera that had lured them into the room and then exiting. "Come on. What are you two waiting for, eh?"

Irritated, Naru pulled Mai by the hand into the hall. A tingling sensation had gripped his flesh the moment their skin touched, infecting his entire arm. There was no real explanation for his reaction. Not really. It was a spontaneous thing that happened with lots of metaphorical sparks.

Just like a flashy magic show.

An almost invisible smile tugged at Naru's lips. He didn't believe in magic, though. He glanced back at the flushed girl he had by the hand. In her other hand, he could make out the shine of her watch face. When she caught him looking at her, Mai smiled tentatively at him.

Naru almost gave in to smile back.

_Well, maybe I could learn to believe in magic._

_

* * *

_

(A.N.) Well, that's it for now. I have no idea when the next shot is going to come, but I can tell you what it's going to be. Actually, I'm going to hint at it. Think kids and complecated technology. I'll leave the rest up to your imaginations. **Review please!**


	11. Babysitting

Disclaimer: The smurfs have come to take me away to Never Never Land. I'll send postcards!

Worth It

(A.N.) Hello again! This installment is coming to you all from the prompts of **miss koneko**, **cupidsangel**,** PsychicOtaku182**, and** allie**. Thanks to all reviews and readers. Love you all! It would also be a good idea, I supposed, to mention that the ending to this one was...unexpected for me. It just sort of happened. So, if it seems rather abrupt, it... Well, it is. Enjoy!

* * *

It was a normal evening at S.P.R. Lin was typing away at his computer industriously in his office, his fingers moving at phenomenal and superhuman speed across the keyboard. Shut in his office, Naru was at his usual business of reading potential case suggestions while idly solving a Rubix Cube, his sixth of the day, in fact. A comfortable silence was settled over the entire space. The sun had already set and Mai had left only thirty minutes before, waving cheerily and wishing both introverts a good night.

That blissful silence was broken when the door to the outer offices opened and Madoka Mori, master ghost hunter, flounced in with several children in tow. The woman's light brown hair bounced with her light step, her smile luminous. "Naru! Lin!" she sang out, pulling the youngest of the children, who was seven, with her gently when he tried to punch his older brother.

In an instant, both men had jumped to their feet and were out of their offices in a flash. Naru especially. Madoka was the only person living on the planet that could elicit such an obedient response from the teen. No one would believe it, but Madoka could be scary if she tried to be. There was a reason that Naru was the best at what he did.

"What are you doing here, Madoka?" Naru inquired warily, watching as the troop of four children wandered about the office. Except the youngest boy. Very firmly, Madoka kept that boy at her side, arm around his shoulders.

Madoka's smile became more radiant. "Well, I have a favor to ask of you two. You see, I completely forgot that I had to watch my darling niece and nephews tonight and I need to be at a business function in just a half hour."

Trepidation spread through both men. Surely she didn't mean for them to…

"Would you two please watch them for me? It'll only be for a few hours. They're absolute angels. You won't even notice them."

As soon as the words left Madoka's mouth, the other two boys got into a fight, biting and kicking and wailing. Frowning, Madoka quickly and efficiently separated the two and murmured a few quiet and chastising words. The boys looked abashed and scuffed their shoes against the carpet. "See?" Madoka continued, "Angels."

Lin and Naru shared a sideways glance, both thinking the same thing. _Hell no. Absolutely not._

"Madoka, this is not a nursery," Naru began, scanning the so called "angels" with a cool gaze. The girl kicked her brother violently when he pulled on one of her pigtails. "We can n—"

"You will? Oh, thank you, Naru. I always knew you were a good child at heart." Madoka started to kiss each child goodbye.

"What?" Naru was stunned for a bit. "No. No, I did not agree t—!"

"Don't let him be too cruel to them, Lin," Madoka advised, completely ignoring Naru's protests. In a motherly fashion, she turned to the munchkins and added, "Be good. Your mother and I would be very disappointed if you misbehaved."

"Madoka," Lin tried, "this is not a wise th—"

"Well? You'll be good?" Madoka pressed the little girl. The woman paid no heed to either of the distressed males in the room.

"Yeah, yeah," the girl grumbled, simultaneously slugging the third boy solidly in the arm when he yanked on her other pigtail, "we'll be good." Her voice was sullen. "Or at least, I will. I don't think that Ken and Shinta and Hiro _can _be good." She glared as the three boys chased after each other in circles, barely missing furniture in their pursuit. "I'm always good," she added prissily.

"Of course you are, Hana," Madoka soothed, patting the girl on the head brightly. "I'm sure everything will be fine." Straightening, she walked towards the door. "I'll see you all later tonight!"

"Madoka!" Naru called after her. This was not happening.

The door slammed shut behind her.

Shocked, Naru stared at the closed door. "Damn it."

"Hey! Mister!" the little girl, Hana, yelled at the top of her lungs. When he didn't acknowledge her, she kicked him hard in the shins.

Grunting, Naru looked down at the annoying child. Her brown eyes blazed imperiously and her fisted hands were perched on her hips. "What?" Naru asked, irritated. _I can't believe Madoka…_

"You'd better have something for us to do. I refuse to be bored because of some stupid, boring adults."

"It's not my job to entertain you. Sit down and be quiet. I have work to do," Naru ordered coldly. A sharp shrieked tore through the office as the two older boys pinned the younger one on the ground and sat on him. "And make them shut up," he added, wincing slightly as his ear drums throbbed in pain.

"No, I don't want to," Hana pouted. Her eyes wandered a bit, halting only when she caught sight of Lin's computer through the Chinese man's open office door. Squealing, she ran in the direction of the machine before Naru or Lin knew what was happening. "Ken! They have a computer! Let's play with it!" the girl beckoned her brother.

One of the older boys immediately sprung up from pinning the youngest, though he had to pause a little to wrest his glasses from the captive's grasp. As soon as the glasses were back on Ken's nose, the boy (who was maybe around nine years old) sprinted into Lin's office with his sister.

Face drained of color, Lin bounded after them. From the dark room, Naru could here the curious exclamations of the two children. "What does this button do?" seemed to be the most frequent shout, but there was a lot of "ooh" and "ahh" happening, as well.

About to follow Lin, Naru froze as a coaster smacked him in the chest. He turned slowly to the object's point of origin and glared icily at the two boys (who must have been Shinta and Hiro). Both children had armed themselves with whatever mobile small items they could find. Naru spotted more coasters, pens, a stapler, a cordless phone, and a multitude of other things sticking out of pockets and nestled in small hands. The youngest boy pulled an arm back, aiming, and chucked the stapler at him.

Ducking, Naru avoided the projectile and practically ran, followed by a barrage of missiles, to Lin's office. He briefly thought of grabbing both kids and physically stripping them of their weapons and then tying them up with electrical cords, but cringed away from the plan when he thought of Madoka's reaction to such treatment of her "angels".

_Damn it all to hell!_ Naru cursed to himself, rushing into Lin's office.

Since he'd been expecting to find somewhat of a refuge in the dark room, Naru was startled to see Lin frantically typing with one hand, sweating, and holding young Ken by the collar. "What key did you press!?" Lin asked angrily.

"Let him go, you meanie!" Hana shrieked, trying to come to her younger brother's rescue. She jumped onto Lin's restraining arm, pulling with all her laughable might.

Lin didn't even seem to notice the increase in weight on his arm. Determinedly, he continued his furious typing. Without looking up from the screen, he ordered, "Naru, get these horrific little monster out of here before I kill them."

Stunned didn't even begin to describe how Naru was feeling. Lin didn't order him around. Much. And he certainly didn't have bouts of murderous rage.

Then again, Lin had never done very well around children.

Neither did Naru, for that matter.

Gingerly, he releived Lin of his struggling burden and hauled the boy out of the room Hana followed, stomping angrily, in his wake. As he shut the door, Naru heard Lin muttering angrily under his breath and the loud clack of keys being stabbed with more force than necessary.

However, exiting the office meant that Naru was back in the line of fire. A series of pens flew at him, whacking him in the face and chest.

_That's it!_ "If you don't stop that immediately, you will not like what happens next!" he said in a deadly voice. Madoka's wrath or not, these kids were evil incarnate!

Hiro and Shinta hesitated, but Hana rallied them. "There're more of us than there are of him! We can take him! We have to rescue Ken!" The girl grabbed the cordless phone from one of her armed brothers and hurled it at Naru.

Fed up, Naru caught the phone with a little telekinetic aid, and stared at the device for a second before coming to a decision. He didn't have the time or the patience or the large amount of holy water to deal with these demon children. So, he was going to call someone else to do it for him.

It was the first time he'd ever called Mai at home, but he knew the number by heart. Knowing that one little fact of knowing betrayed him, he dialed quickly, releasing Ken to his siblings and hiding in his own office, locking the door as soon as he shut it.

After three unbearably long rings, Mai picked up. _"Hello?"_ For some reason, she sounded out of breath and frustrated.

Naru didn't even bother to greet her conventionally. "You need to come back to the office. Now."

"_Naru? Is that you?"_

"I said 'now'."

"_Yep. It's you. Look, Naru, I'm really sorry, but I'm a bit—Ow!"_ Naru heard a loud crash on Mai's end of the line following her yelp of pain.

"Mai?" He did his best to keep a growl of concern from his voice. _Someone better not be there hurting her…_

"_I'm fine,"_ she replied after a few seconds. Quietly, she muttered, _"I hate technology…"_

Naru sighed. She had done something clumsy again. The knot of concern in his chest eased a bit. "If you don't come here, then I'm bringing this problem to you," he informed his assistant.

His cheerful, wonderful, beautiful assistant.

_No. Don't go there, _he warned himself. This was not the time for such foolish thoughts. He had demon children to round up and deliver to Mai. This wasn't about how much he secretly cared about Mai, it was about survival, damn it.

"_Problem? Please, Naru, I really can't—"_

He cut her off. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Without further ceremony, he hung up on her while she spluttered protests.

Now all he had to do was get the kids in the van.

_Oh, hell._

oOo

Slamming the back doors of the van harder than necessary, Naru made sure that that the midget monsters were locked in. He climbed into the driver's seat and started the vehicle, hearing the four kids banging on the walls of the back compartment. Sadistically, he hoped that they bruised themselves thoroughly in their efforts. God knew that he had enough bruises because of them himself. At a red light, he inspected his left hand and the red bite mark that resided on it between his thumb and forefinger. _Damn kids…_

The way to Mai's apartment was not complicated, nor was it particularly long. Naru tried not to dwell on the fact that, like her phone number, he knew the way without any aid of a map or further direction.

By the time he pulled into the parking area of the apartment complex, the pounding on the van's walls had ceased. As had the whining and the angry shouts. In fact, there was no sound whatsoever coming from the back compartment of the van. None at all.

With some trepidation, Naru opened the door and gracefully slid from the driver's seat to the concrete. He stared at the closed back doors of the van for a moment, and then shook himself. It was absolutely ridiculous, he tried to convince himself, to be afraid of a bunch of munchkins. He was bigger than they were, and smarter.

For some reason, Naru was not completely comforted by that thought.

Steeling himself, the teen unlocked and threw open the doors.

And was attacked by four small children. Again.

"I can't believe you locked us in there, you jerk!" Hana screeched, clawing at his eyes. Her brothers had all attached themselves to his various limbs. Two of them had his legs and one was wound around his right arm. "We could have died!"

_I hate kids! _Growling silently, Naru grabbed Hana by the back of the neck with his left hand and hauled her off him by her collar. "Call. Them. Off," he commanded, sapphire eyes like chips of ice.

"Or what?" Hana challenged, already shrinking from him. Those eyes were creepy!

"Or back into the van with you. And I'll leave you there." _And I would be happy about it_, he added to himself grimly.

"You wouldn't! Aunt Madoka and Mommy wouldn't let you do that!" Hana protested, flailing.

"They would have to find you before they could let you out, wouldn't they?" Naru smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Besides, neither of them is here."

Paling, Hana immediately stilled and ordered her brothers, "Okay! Hands off him!"

The boys slowly released Naru, pulling away and glaring at him at the same time. Naru, knowing that the fear he'd inspired wouldn't last, wanted to get them to Mai as soon as possible and leave them there. Mai _liked_ kids. Hell, _kids_ liked _Mai_.

Dropping Hana on her feet, Naru jerked his head towards the door of Mai's building and said, "Follow." When the youngest boy (whose name, Naru had discovered, was Hiro) tried to sneak off in the opposite direction, Naru snatched the child's arm in a firm grip and yanked him along. The others, following Hana's lead, trooped after them. He had no doubt that the whispers he was hearing were their plots for revenge.

Two flights of stairs later, Naru and his brewing mutiny leaders were standing in front of a door labeled "15C—Taniyama". He took a few seconds to make sure that he didn't appear as anything was wrong, and then knocked on the door forcefully.

About a minute passed before the door was opened. He was surprised by the uncharacteristic look of harried annoyance on Mai's face, but hid the surprise well. Children in tow, he entered her apartment and took in all the confusing details at once.

A mangled cardboard box lying in the middle of the living room. Cables strung about. A pair of scissors. What looked like a VCR…?

"Naru, I told you that I was busy. What in the world…" Mai trailed off as the four kids followed her boss into her living room. "Um. Naru?"

"What?" His voice smacked of irritation.

"You know that you have four kids trailing after you, right?"

"No. I was completely unaware of that fact."

Mai frowned at him. "There's no need to be sarcastic. I was just making sure." Her frown turned into the brilliant smile that Naru knew and welcomed. Kneeling down so that she was eyelevel with Hana, Mai chirped, "Hi, there. I'm Mai Taniyama."

Like most people, the girl was dazzled by Mai's warmth. God, and only God, knew that Naru was as well. "I'm Hana Murakami."

Fluidly, Mai turned her sunny attention to the sullen boys huddling near their sister. "And who are you fine gentlemen?" There was a teasing note to her voice, a caring note.

Naru looked on in wonder as she not only got each boy to respond, but that she also managed to whisk them and their sister into her kitchen and sit them down without any fuss at all. Promising cookies and tea, Mai had secured the children's instant affection and good behavior. Her very presence seemed to keep them calm and compliant. With a laughing flourish, the brunette presented each child with a plate of warm cookies, bestowing smiles and attention on each one.

Watching, Naru leaned against the kitchen's doorframe. A small part of him was jealous, but he ignored it.

When Mai finished serving out baked goods, she told the kids that she needed to finish up something in the other room, but that she would be back in a bit. The kids (still Satan spawn, in Naru's mind) nodded with full mouths and waved cheerily. Mai waved back and passed Naru, tugging on his sleeve in an indication to follow. Brown eyes curious, she asked, "Why are they with you?"

In as few words as possible, Naru explained about Madoka's swift deposit of the children in his and Lin's care. He also mentioned that the children did not belong in the S.P.R. office, so they were going to be staying with Mai until further notice.

Mai sighed gustily. "Naru, as cute as those angels are, I'm busy right now. I can't watch them."

"_Angels"? What is it with women calling the damn demons "angels"?_ The little brats seemed to behave for anyone who was not Naru and Lin. Outwardly, Naru frowned at his assistant. "Busy with what?"

Kicking at a stray piece of bubble wrap, Mai gazed wearily at the mess in her living room. "This stupid piece of technology, that's what! I think they write the instructions in Spanish. It may look like Japanese, but I swear to you that it's a foreign language. How can they expect normal people to understand it?" she grumbled, plopping herself down on the floor with the debris.

"Mai," Naru said mincingly, "it's just a VCR. It's not that complicated." Dear Lord, this girl was hopeless. A brief flare of protectiveness ran through him.

"For you maybe," she muttered, pulling the contraption into her lap.

It only took Naru five frustrating seconds of watching her struggle with cable hook ups before he crouched down and removed both cables and VCR from her grasp. Naru was not patient when it came to people mishandling simple things. Especially Mai. She made him lose his patience more often than most.

Mai was having a bit of a hard time. She always had a hard time when Naru was in the vicinity. Him being near made her hyperaware of what was going on, so aware that it was painful. With her nasty habit of blushing and stammering at inconvenient times, surely Naru knew it. Some days, Mai thought that the narcissist she had come to love _did_ know that. Other times, with his cool orders, she wasn't so sure.

Either way, it didn't change the fact that Mai was, at this moment, completely unable to move. She watched as Naru's hands worked magic on the confounded VCR, mesmerized. She didn't notice when he caught her staring at him.

_What is she so focused on?_ Naru, true to his nickname, was fully aware of his good looks, but he was under the impression that Mai had gotten used to it. Surely that wasn't what was distracting the pretty brunette now. _Or is it?_

"Mai?"

He watched, amused, as she blinked as if waking. His amusement increased tenfold when she blushed. She knew she'd been caught.

"Y-yes?" she stammered, her face tinted pink. _Please tell me he didn't see me looking the _entire_ time._

Smirking, Naru handed her the remote and told her to press the menu button.

"What menu button?" she inquired. "There's a menu button on this thing?"

"Idiot," Naru sighed. He tapped the correct button, wondering idly how she could smell so comforting. Cookies and fresh air. Sun dried linen. He inhaled unconsciously.

For ten more minutes, Naru continued to instruct Mai in the art of programming a VCR, neither of them noticing that four pairs of young eyes watched them covertly from the kitchen.

"He really should kiss her," Hana whispered to her brothers. "That's what's supposed to happen."

"Ew," Hiro said quietly.

"How would you know?" nine-year-old Shinta asked.

"That's what Aunt Madoka said was supposed to happen!" the girl said hotly, watching the two older people intently for said kiss.

"I still don't see why we had to do this," Ken pouted, straightening his glasses. "It wasn't that fun. I don't even like being mean to people."

"Auntie asked us to, that's why!" little Hiro chirped, stuffing another cookie in his mouth.

Quickly, Hana shushed him. "Be quiet. I think…"

All of them watched in fascination as both Naru and Mai huddled over the remote, discussing something that didn't quite the children's ears. This conversation went on for a while, long after the VCR had been set up and programmed, ending only when Mai smiled gently at Naru and said, "Thanks for helping." She bit her lip uncertainly for a second.

The children held their breath.

Hesitantly, Mai leaned forward. She wasn't really thinking straight. Such a thing tended to happen when she was close to Naru for a significant period of time. A pause. Then, quick as butterfly, pecked Naru on the cheek.

It was only a couple seconds afterward that the action registered with her. A blush bloomed furiously over her face. "S-sor—!"

Lips brushed against hers, effectively silencing her. It was the lightest touch and brief, but still left Mai in a state of profound bliss. Warmth spread through her, a feeling of elation skewing her soul. _I'm flying…_ The smell of laundry detergent and rain curled around her. Naru's scent, and left her dazed.

When her senses were working properly again, she caught sight of his distinctive smirk. "That," he said quietly, eyes dark, "is how to say thank you."

In the kitchen, the children danced around in triumph. Their Aunt Madoka had been right. All they'd had to do was get Mai and Naru alone in a room and this would happen!

It made their being mean to both Naru and Lin worth it.

* * *

(A.N.) I hope you all loved it. Review and tell me about it!


	12. Love

Disclaimer: SAT II tests are the devil…

Catch the Fallen

(A.N.) I am sooooo sorry that it's taken me so long to update. Finals and AP tests and SATs are evil sons of bitches (shakes fist angrily). But anyway, this shot was born from the prompts I've been getting about Mai being in the hospital. This is not the same as Mai being "sick". That one will come later, 'kay? Also, this story has not been beta'd. Actually, I need a new beta. Is there anyone out there that would be interested? My old one and I are no longer speaking to each other, and my new one is leaving the country for a month. I need a temp! All you'll need to do is proofread grammar and maybe suffer some idea bouncing. Thank you!!

* * *

_The wind teased her hair and hospital gown in a wild frenzy, swirling around her body almost protectively. She could feel the concrete under her bare feet, could feel the dampness of her tears soaking into the bandages on her cheek and neck. With dead, blank eyes, she stared down at the bustling masses of people below her, hearing in the distance the wail of police and ambulance sirens._

How did I get here?_ she wondered listlessly, delicate hands limp at her sides. _How did the world become so cold? _As if summoned by her thoughts, the wind carried a chill and wrapped around her, possessing her senses. _

_It wasn't worth it anymore now that he had turned away from her. There wasn't any sense in continuing to live without him. She knew these things as truth, knew that if she kept waking up without him beside her, she would be living the life of a Shade. Purgatory, Limbo, that's what life would continue to be. It would be cold and gray, bleached like an old bone._

Will you care, my love? Will you grieve for me, knowing that you forced this choice on me? _Slowly, she raised her hands in front of her face and inspected them as if they belonged to a stranger. Nails bitten to the quick, some with the remnants of dried blood embedded in the cuticles. No rings. The pink hospital bracelet around her wrist had been stapled together since her arms were too small for the pre punched holes. But that was all right. Food wasn't important no._

_Nothing was important now._

_Pale brow furrowing a bit, she pried the bracelet off and let it go to the wind, watching as it fluttered away carelessly. _There, now I am truly without a name. I don't exist. Just fade away…

_She leaned forward slightly, ready, but hesitated for just a second. Then, she shook her head, her short and limp brown hair flopping around in the motion and the wind. Without another thought, she stepped off the roof as ballerina would perform the first graceful move of her dance. _

_As the world fell past her, as the sky became farther and farther away, she had only one regret. _

I should have never loved him.

oOo

Sobbing, Mai Taniyama snapped open her eyes as her body hit the pavement. Pain and sorrow filled her heart as she stared up at the white ceiling above her, shivering from fear and cold. She couldn't help but compare it to the fading blue sky of her dream. Her dream. Nothing more. Nothing more real for her physically. _Everything is fine_, she told herself over and over, hoping that repeating the mantra would make it true.

"I hate hospitals," she groaned quietly, wiping at the already drying tears on her face. There was too much death, too many lonely spirits, and they threw her growing ESP into overtime. Since she had been admitted to the ER two days before, she had yet to sleep peacefully. This was the fourth time she had dreamed of the woman who had jumped off the hospital's roof.

Mai could hear her heart monitor beeping frantically and she tried to calm herself down, knowing that her elevated pulse and breathing rate would have a whole score of concerned nurses all over her. That was the last thing she wanted. Frankly, she didn't really think she needed to be hospitalized at all. Michiko had overreacted, end of story.

A nurse bustled into Mai's room, smiling warmly at her. "How are we feeling today, Miss Taniyama?"

"I feel great, but it is a bit chilly in here," Mai responded earnestly, absently rubbing her hands up and down her arms, "Can I go home now?" _Please say yes, please say yes, please say…_

The older woman's smile faded a bit with concern. "I don't know, dear. You'll have to wait to hear what your doctor has to say. He'll be making his rounds shortly, so you won't have to wait too long." She then began to take Mai's temperature and blood pressure and such, a frown beginning to mar her kindly features. "Oh my…" Worried eyes flicked between the thermometer she had stuck in Mai's mouth and Mai herself. "You need to see the doctor right away. I'll be right back."

And then the woman left Mai alone in the quiet room to stare at the ceiling and fret.

Seconds later, the nurse practically ran back into the room with a man that Mai had spoken to before right behind her. Dr. Higuma, if she remembered right.

Dr. Higuma took Mai's temperature himself and frowned. "Miss Taniyama, what is your usual temperature? Is usually colder or hotter than the normal 98.6 degrees?"

"No," Mai replied, confused. _What kind of question is that?_ "Why?"

As the doctor examined her charts and monitor records, he replied, "When you were admitted, Miss Taniyama, you had a fever of 102.4 degrees and had lost conciousness. Your friend…Michiko Takeda said that you had complained of a severe headache and fatigue right before you collapsed at your school. For the last two days, your fever has persisted, even in the face of the medication we have given you." He paused for a moment to make a notation on her chart. "You seem to experience severe nightmares. Correct?"

"Yes…something like that." _If you only knew…_ she thought to herself.

"Then that would account for the frequent fluctuations in your heart and respiration rates," he murmured to himself. Raising his voice a little, he continued, "Now, you're temperature has dropped. Your body is currently in a state of hypothermia, and there is no reason why it should be. I'm afraid that I'll need to run some tests, including blood workups and a CAT scan. Is this permissible?"

A renewed feeling of fear crept into Mai's mind. "Could something be seriously wrong with me?"

"I don't mean to alarm you, Miss Taniyama, but there is a significant probability that there might be."

Taking a deep breath, Mai said, "Do what you have to then, I guess."

"Is there anyone I can call for you, dear?" the nurse asked gently, laying a warm hand on Mai's icy shoulder.

"Yeah," Mai said quietly, shaking uncontrollably. "Yeah, there is."

* * *

All was quiet at S.P.R. Without Mai there to complain or converse, Lin and Naru didn't say anything at all, working in silence. 

However, Naru was not working. He was trying to, of course, but he kept getting distracted by the fact that Mai had not come into work for the past two days. In fact, her friend, Yuki, had called that first day of Mai's absence to inform him that Mai wouldn't be coming. When he'd asked for an explaination, Yuki had responded in a soft and concerned way that Mai wasn't feeling very well. Her tone of voice made Naru believe that there was something she wasn't telling him, probably at Mai's request.

He was staring out the window in his personal office when he heard the phone ring, but didn't bother to move. Lin would answer it. There was no reason for him to move from his place of vigil as he watched the streets below, searching for the lively brunette who worked for him. _Where is she? What could..? _Naru shook his head. What was he thinking? It wasn't as if he was her keeper or her boyfriend or anything.

_You could be_, a soft voice whispered to him.

_Shut up, _he snapped back. He didn't have time for such foolish thoughts. He was a scientist, damn it.

_Idiot scientist_, his memory chided him. His brother's favorite label for him.

Without knocking, Lin interrupted Naru's thoughts and watched the young professor for a short moment in silence. Lin knew that Naru wasn't working, knew that he spent all his time staring out the window. The Chinese man had come to realize how incomplete Naru seemed without Mai around to balance him out. He was thinking that Naru was beginning to realize it as well.

He was also thinking that Naru would figure it out very quick in light of the news he'd come to relay.

"Yes, Lin? What is it?" Naru inquired, not taking his eyes off the people on the street.

"You need to go to Tokyo General Hospital."

Naru still hadn't turned around. "Why?"

"Mai's asking for you."

Lin had never seen Naru run so fast.

* * *

"_Why do I feel numb?" she whispered, hugging herself. Her uneven nails bit into her skin and, even though they were extremely short, drew small pinpricks of blood. She didn't feel it. The darkening sky seemed to turn blacker in her eyes, then gray. Everything was gray now._

_Step by step, she got closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Rocks and glass bit into her feet, leaving bloody footprints in her wake, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Didn't she have to feel to care?_

"_How could you leave me?" she wailed softly into the strong wind that came from the west. "How could you reject me, my love? I can't live without you…" _

_Without care but with innate grace, she stepped onto the concrete ledge of the hospital's roof. She stared down at the busily moving crowds and wondered over and over again how she had come to this point. _

_Simple. It was love._

_She removed her bracelet, casting away this life's identity, and took that last fatal step. _

oOo

Mai nearly had a heart attack as her dream was interrupted. Someone was shaking her shoulders persistently, feeling so warm against her frosted skin. It felt as if her heart was frozen, and that her blood was nothing but glacial runoff. Her body ached, both with fear and the impact of flesh against pavement.

"Miss Taniyama," the nurse called gently, "Miss Taniyama, you must wake up."

Opening her teary eyes reluctantly, Mai stared up at the kind woman and tried to summon a smile through her pain. _Please go away,_ she pleaded silently. She wanted to cry in peace.

"You have a visitor, dear. He's very insistent that he see you now and I thought that, maybe just this once, I'll bend the rules and let him see you after hours. You could use the company, I think." In a motherly fashion, she pulled the extra blankets on Mai's bed up to the girl's chin. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah, it is. Thank you." Mai lay still, wondering what she was going to tell him. For a brief moment, the prospect of being near Naru sent a spasm of warm through her body, but the coldness took over immediately. It was almost a painful reaction. It seemed as if her body was rejecting her intense feeling for Naru. _But that can't be right…_

_I should have never loved him._

"Mai?"

Her head snapped to look at the doorway, finding Naru standing there as casually as if they'd met at a teahouse. Hospitals never seemed to bother Naru and Mai wished she had his immunity. "H-hey," she stuttered. She wasn't sure if the cold or the nervousness of being in his presence made her teeth chatter.

Without a word, Naru crossed the room to the foot of her bed and liberated her chart from its holder there, reading it as if he had every right to be doing so. "Have they diagnosed you with anything yet?" he asked coolly.

"N-no. They t-took-k sssome blood b-but they haven't got-ten the resultsss back yet-t." Her shivering became more and more violent, the tremors making it hard for her to force words from her mouth. "It'ssss sssso c-cold," she murmured, curling her body under the covers, trying to find some pocket of warmth.

"You're scheduled for a CAT scan tomorrow as well. Why is that?" Naru asked sharply, flipping through Mai's chart. Her fluctuating temperature wasn't linked to brain activity. Not unless she had a psychological disorder of some kind, which wouldn't even be caught on a brain X-ray anyway.

Mai rolled her eyes behind her boss's back. _Figures. He's probably read a bazillion medical textbooks or something._ _That's the type of thing he probably does for "fun". _

"D-do I look-k lik-ke a doct-tor t-to you?" she retorted, though her sarcasm was ruined by her cold induced stutter.

Naru continued to read, processing the medical jargon easily. He had a Ph.D., after all, and had dabbled in studying biology and medicine besides psychic phenomenon. When he came to the notation about Mai's nightmares, he looked up at her and felt his heart constrict. She was deathly pale, her veins easily visible. Her eyes were bloodshot and her lips were blue with cold. Shivering violently, she was buried under a mound of hospital issue blankets. Mai looked delicate when she was good health. The pale shadow that she had become looked as fragile as the thinnest of glass. And just as insubstantial. However, he pushed those thoughts down and focused on being calm. Calm was good. "Is your ESP active here?"

Mai nodded in response, tearing up. "It'sss awful. Sshe k-keepss jump-ping… Ssso sssad…" _I don't understand how she could make that choice_, the girl added to herself. "Masak-ko might b-be ab-ble t-to help her…" Gods, Mai hated to admit that.

_No one can help me…_ a small voice whispered, forlorn.

"Don't worry about it, Mai. You have other pressing concerns," Naru replied with surprising consideration. _How can she worry about others at a time like this?_

She smiled at him gently. "Right." _Like I forgot or something. I have to get better so I can keep going to S.P.R. so I can…_

_NO! Do not love! Too much pain!_

All of a sudden, Mai's body stiffened and a gasp escaped her throat as a cold more severe than anything she'd felt so far spread through her body. The freezing wave of emotion drowned out the warm feelings of affection and love that she held in her heart for Naru.

"Mai?" Naru queried quietly. Her eyes were half open and had a dull shine to them; her body was stiff as a board. When she didn't answer, he went to her side and studied her intently, noting the tension in her face.

Abruptly, Mai bolted upright. "I have to go to the roof," she stated softly. "I have to help her." With that, she started to push back her blankets and swing her legs onto the floor. When Naru tried to catch her shoulders and push her back down, Mai shook him off and kept repeating that she had to go to the roof.

"The hell you do," Naru growled under his breath. He tightened his grip on her arms a little, but not too much. He wanted to use more of his strength to make her lie down, yet his instincts told him that she would break like a twig if he did.

Eventually, Mai managed to slip from his grasp and dash unsteadily from the room, Naru behind.

oOo

The air was cold on the roof, the wind blowing strongly. Just like the evening when the woman had thrown herself to her death. Mai hugged herself in an effort to get warm, but it was a vain effort. Her body wasn't generating much heat as it was. Any warmth was either stolen away by the air or by the knife of sadness in her heart.

"Hello!" she called through numb lips. "Are you here?" Frantically, she looked around, stumbling. "Please answer me! Please! I want to help you!" She couldn't let this woman suffer any more. No one deserved this pain.

Hands grabbed her shoulders from behind, startling Mai and causing a strangled yell to sound from her throat. Blindly, she began to struggle. But, when she heard Naru's familiar voice, she calmed at once and let him swing her around by her shoulders, putting them face to face.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. Gods above, this girl scared him like no one else could.

"I have to help her," Mai said, feeling tears escaping from her eyes yet again.

_Damn her bleeding heart_, Naru cursed silently. Couldn't she just let some matters go? If she kept getting involved in other people's problems, especially the problems of the lonely and vengeful dead, she wasn't going to live for very long. And if she died… Did she even begin to realize how much she meant to him, even if he never told her in words? He wasn't even sure if he could put her importance to him into words.

"Help who?" he asked as calmly as he could. Only long practice kept the anger and concern from his voice and manner.

Slowly, Mai's eyes widened fraction by fraction, watching something behind him. "Her…"

Naru turned his head, spotting the wavering image of a woman standing on the raised ledge that marked the edge of the roof. Instead of facing outward and ready to jump, though, she was facing them, eyeing them with clear distaste. Or rather, she was eyeing _Naru_ with distaste.

The ghost turned her gaze on Mai, saying, "He'll only destroy you, you know. That's all guys like him do. They take advantage of girls like us." Her eyes flicked behind her, observing the streets below. "They drive us to do stupid things. All in the name of love." When she looked back at them, her eyes were burning with hate and pain. "They don't even know what love is," she spat.

Wanting to help the dead woman, Mai tried to go to her, but Naru's grip on her shoulders stopped her.

"Oh, yes, you protect her _now_," the ghost mocked, "but it's not me she needs protection from. It's you. She needs to be kept safe from you, just like I needed to be kept safe from Haru."

"I don't understand," Mai said, "Why would I have to be protected from Naru?" It was such a ridiculous thought. Almost laughable. The day that Naru intentionally hurt Mai was the day that pigs went ice skating in hell.

Pityingly, the ghost floated from her place on the ledge, shaking her head at the brunette. "You love him, don't you?" Mai blushed and stuttered, but the ghost continued without really noticing. "You're young. You don't understand yet. It's better just to kill those feelings now since they'll only hurt you later. Truthfully, it'd be better if you did as I did and jump." The ghost smiled faintly. "It doesn't hurt so bad and you don't really have time to be afraid. Come on, come with me," she beckoned, holding out a silvery opaque hand.

Naru felt his hands tighten their hold on Mai, his mind and heart racing. _She loves me? What could she possibly love about me? _

For Mai, this moment was one of those surreal times where you know, with everything you are, that it is the right time and the right place. There wasn't, in her mind, a better time to say what she felt in her heart. So, she did. "You're wrong," she said softly, looking at the broken woman before her. "It wouldn't be better. Even if he broke my heart tomorrow, that doesn't change the happiness I feel when he's in the same room with me. That will never change, I will never regret that. I may question it sometimes when he annoys me, but I will never regret it. Love isn't something that should be regretted and a broken heart isn't something you should run from. You learn from both, and you give your heart again and again until you find someone who will protect it. You struck out, like everyone does, but never regret loving someone. There is no greater gift than loving someone else."

"You're heart has never been broken!" the ghost shrieked. "You would understand if it had! Go ahead and ask him! He'll leave you, just like Haru left me! He will! They all do!"

Mai knew that. Mai knew very well that Naru would probably walk away, at the worst, but that didn't matter. "Even if he did, nothing would change." When she stepped forward, Naru again held her back. "It's okay, Naru. Really." She looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly, a faint flush gracing her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

Reluctantly, Naru released her, but followed close behind her as she approached the ghost woman. He wasn't going to allow her to be hurt. Ever.

Mai held her arms out to the ghost, welcoming and caring. "Broken hearts can be fixed."

Tentatively, the woman floated into Mai's open arms, and Mai could see tears running down her translucent cheeks. _All she needed was someone to care, to catch her when she jumped,_ Mai thought to herself, wrapping the woman in a hug. There was a slight resistance against her arms, then nothing as the woman dissolved into tiny round balls of light and was gone.

Which left Mai and Naru alone on the roof with the cold wind.

Mai shivered a little as turned around to face Naru, both from nerves and cold. Though she wasn't nearly as cold as before. In fact, she felt better than ever, if a little tired.

Naru wasn't exactly sure what to do. Normally, a situation like this would be dealt with in his usual manner: make a cold remark and then exit in style. But with Mai… Even with his thoughts in turmoil, he noticed Mai's chilled appearance and slid off his coat, wrapping it around her shoulders. "Idiot," he muttered. "You try and get yourself killed. There is no other explanation."

"I'm fine," Mai insisted, looking down at her shoes. _What now? Am I supposed to say something more? I can't take it back… _She bit her lip unsurely, flicking her gaze up at Naru's blank expression to the ground.

Silence enveloped them for what felt like an eternity, though only a couple minutes passed. "Why?" Naru finally asked, face still as stoic as always. He rather preferred his face blank. It hid what he was thinking, which was good in moments like this.

Mai just had to smile, despite her anxiousness. The narcissist couldn't figure out what there was to love about him? How ironic. "It's everything. That's just how it happened. Do I really need a reason?"

Eyebrows raised, Naru started down at his lovely assistant and debated with himself. He should just walk away. That would be best. He didn't know how to be in love, and he generally stayed away from things he wasn't a hundred percent sure he could do.

_Idiot scientist_, Gene's memory reprimanded gently for the second time that day.

_To hell with it._ _I'll learn._

"Mai," he said quietly, tilting her chin up so she was looking at him.

Mai gulped. "Yeah?"

"You don't need a reason."

Lightly, he touched his lips to hers, and the whole damn world faded away. Mai was sure that she was dead or dreaming. As the saying goes, her blood was singing. So was her soul. She was almost too shocked to move, but found that, as the kiss went on and on, deepening slowly, her arms slid around Naru's neck automatically. Like they were meant to be there.

When they finally broke apart, both teens felt their hearts racing. They stood in a blissful silence that didn't need words to break or fill it. It was a moment of complete and utter understanding that is so rare in the world today.

Despite her elation, though, Mai was tired, swaying a bit on her feet. Of course, Naru noticed and slid an arm around her shoulders.

"Inside. Now," he ordered sternly, though there was a hint of warmth in his voice and eyes.

Sighing, Mai muttered, "Stop ordering me around."

"I'm your boss, Mai. It's my job to order you around."

They went inside arguing and leaning into each other's warmth.

* * *

The next day found Mai back in her hospital bed, though she was sitting on it, rather than lying, and she was dressed in her own cloths. A definite plus in her mind. 

"I've never seen such a radical recovery, Miss Taniyama," Dr. Higuma told her as she pulled on her tennis shoes. "Nor have I ever seen such a strange CAT scan. You have an elevated level of brain activity that is not common in most of the population. In fact…" the doctor trailed off, fixing his young patient with a speculative stare, "the only people whose results match yours are those who claim to be psychic."

Mai just smiled brightly at him and replied, "Thank you for looking after me, Doctor." She jumped off her bed exuberantly.

"Miss Taniyama, before you go, I want to make sure that someone will be monitoring you in case your symptoms return. Your file says that you're an orphan, so—."

"She has someone taking care of her, Doctor," Naru said coolly as he entered the room. Without waiting for Dr. Higuma's response, he addressed Mai. "Let's go. We have a new case to take care of. We're wasting time here."

Practically skipping, Mai rushed out the door, waving good-bye to the bemused Dr. Higuma over her shoulder. She almost tripped a few times in her hurry to get out of the hospital, but Naru caught each time with a sigh of annoyed amusement.

Being in love wasn't so hard, he figured. He just had to be there to catch her when she fell.

* * *

(A.N.) Not my favorite thing I've written, but... (shrug) I'm still trying to get back into my writer's mindset. Now that summer is here I'm going to try and write a lot more before I fly off to Japan in July. Please **REVIEW**, and I'll provide cyber-cookies! 


	13. Jealousy

Disclaimer: I think the only reason I bother with these anymore is that I keep trying to find something incredibly witty to say…

The Color Green

(A.N) This shot is a response to a challenge posted by **Optimistic-Pessimistz** in my Ghost Hunt forum. I hope I fulfilled all the requirements! XD And a huge thanks to my beta, **Moon Daisuki, **and to all of you that have reviewed. (distributes cookies) Enjoy the fic!

* * *

For the millionth time that afternoon, Mai fidgeted at her desk in the SPR offices, straightening her lilac blouse, and running her hands over her white khaki skirt to smooth nonexistent wrinkles. She checked the clock compulsively. It was almost three o'clock. Twenty-two minutes till, to be exact.

"Mai?" Ayako asked worriedly, placing her teacup down on the coffee table. She had been watching the girl out of the corner of her eyes since she'd arrived a half hour earlier, and the incessant twitching was alarming the self-proclaimed miko. She'd thought to come and chat with Mai, give the girl some company, but only found Mai too nervous to carry on a conversation. "What's wrong?" It was the fourth or fifth time the woman asked the question.

"Nothing…" Mai replied absently, dragging her eyes away from the clock and returning to her filing.

Ayako's voice dripped with sarcasm, "I see."

"Mai!" another voice called from behind a closed door. "Tea!"

"Coming, Naru!" Mai called back, pushing her chair back.

Ayako watched the girl bustle in the office's tiny kitchenette, noting with curiosity the heeled sandals the girl was wearing. _She's awfully dressed up,_ the woman thought suspiciously. _Why is that?_ It couldn't have been for Naru. Even though Mai was practically head over heels for SPR's young president, she'd never bothered with looking any nicer than she usually did for him. _So why?_ Ayako pondered.

The doctor was about to voice her questions to Mai when SPR's door flew open, followed by an extravagant call of salutation. Ayako didn't even bother looking to see who it was. She knew already. "Don't slam open doors, you idiot," she chided, picking up her tea and taking a sip.

Mai was much more welcoming. "Monk-_san_! What are you doing here? I thought you were working until late tonight." The girl busied herself with preparing an iced coffee for the monk, along with Naru's tea.

"My gig got delayed so I decided to drop by." Takigawa grinned boyishly. "I needed a cup of the best iced coffee in Shibuya."

Mai blushed in face of the compliment, smiling in pleasure. _At least he appreciates me, not like a certain narcissist I know. _

"Can it, Houshou," Ayako snapped from the couch. "You're much too old for her." Despite the biting way it was said, the amusement in the woman's eyes took out most of the sting from her words. It was an old tease that sparked a (somewhat) good-natured argument between the miko and the monk.

"Are you calling me an old man?" the bassist asked, lowering his tall frame into an armchair. It was the standard response.

"Maybe." And there was the same evasive response.

"Well even if that were true, which it's not, I still can compliment a pretty girl, can't I?" Takigawa smiled widely, continuing, "Which reminds me, you look very nice today, _jou-chan_. What's the occasion?"

"Lecherous old man," Ayako muttered. "It would figure you have a Lolita complex."

"I do not!"

"You most certainly do!"

Before the shouting could get out of hand, Mai stepped between the two, setting Takigawa's iced coffee, and a new cup of tea for Ayako on the coffee table. "I'm going out after work today," she said, answering the monk's previous question.

"Alone?" Takigawa asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I'm going with a friend," she replied nervously. "He's picking me up at three."

"Does Naru know?" Ayako asked, drinking from her new cup.

Mai flushed. She'd thought it best not to mention her plans to her boss. She didn't want to get a lecture about keeping her personal life away from the office, or something similar. Though if she thought Naru would react with something other than professional annoyance, like perhaps jealousy, then maybe…

_Ha. Only in my dreams. Literally,_ Mai thought derisively. Out loud, she responded, "No. I haven't told him."

"Told me what?"

Groaning inwardly, she turned and said, "Nothing, Naru." She did not want to have this conversation.

Takigawa and Ayako, on the other hand, wanted this conversation to happen. It was one of the few things that the two agreed on completely. They'd spent many an hour plotting ways to throw Mai and Naru together. Now was their chance to maybe strike a spark between the two teens.

"Mai has a date," Takigawa supplied slyly.

"He's picking her up in fifteen minutes," Ayako added, winking at the monk discreetly.

Lin had come out of his office just in time to hear Ayako's comment, and was the only one to notice the subtle stiffening of Naru's shoulders. The sorcerer felt a small twinge of amusement. He knew Naru well enough by now to recognize the boy's signs of displeasure, and he also knew from experience that the exchange between Mai and Naru would be entertaining. They usually were.

"Have you finished your work?" Naru asked, eyes narrowing. He hoped she'd say no, then he could keep her in the office.

Mai wrung her hands a bit before answering, "I just did, actually. I was about to let you know that a friend was going to pick me up, and that I was leaving for the day."

"Who?" Naru said coolly, face blank. Only Lin saw the flash of emotion in his eyes.

Ayako and Takigawa both turned expectant gazes onto Mai, as well. Anxiously, the girl looked at the clock again and tugged at the hem of her blouse. "Um, well, he's…"

The door to SPR opened and all heads swung towards it sharply. Who was it? Mai's date? A client?

Much to everyone's disappointment, it was neither.

"Good afternoon, Naru," Masako greeted sweetly, entering and closing the door behind her. She didn't acknowledge anyone else except for Lin, to whom the medium politely nodded. Otherwise, her eyes were all for Naru.

_Hello! Other people exist!_ Mai seethed inwardly. She hated the way Masako treated most people as if they were inferior. One of these days, she wanted nothing more than to have a nice, long heart-to-heart discussion with the psychic about such a bad habit. That, and to keep her eyes to herself. Naru was _Mai's_ boss, thank you very much.

"Good afternoon, Hara-_san_," Naru replied stoically. He was still focused on Mai. _Who is she going to leave with?_ he growled to himself. _And where is he going to take her? Whoever he is, he'd better not… _Naru didn't allow himself to finish that murderous thought. It wasn't his business who Mai dated. At least, that's what he was telling himself. Repeatedly. Without success.

"Anyway," Takigawa said abruptly, "Mai, you were going to answer the question. Who is your mysterious date?" The monk's eyes shone with teasing curiosity.

_Mai has a date?_ Masako's inner competitor jumped for joy. It was too good to be true. She'd come to wrangle some time with Naru, using the guise of asking his brief assistance with a case she was currently working on. It was nothing that technically she couldn't handle, but… Well, the medium wasn't one to pass up a prime opportunity. And with Mai out of the picture… It was too perfect.

"I…"

Again, the door swung open, interrupting the girl's response. _It's almost as if the Powers that Be don't want her to answer_, Takigawa mused, arching his neck once more to see who was entering the office.

"Yasuhara-_san_?" Naru said, "What are you doing here? I don't recall asking for any research lately."

"You didn't. I'm here to pick Mai up. Surely she mentioned it?" the college freshman replied smoothly.

Ayako's mouth nearly fell open. Mai was going on a date with _Yasuhara_? Takigawa had a similar reaction, except his jaw really had dropped. Masako smiled, rejoicing behind her kimono sleeve. Lin was still amused, though no one could tell. He'd been watching Naru's body language for the past few minutes and the boy was certainly tensing with anger. Or perhaps it was…

"You're ready, aren't you, Mai-_chan_?" Yasuhara asked, holding out an arm for the girl.

Awkwardly, Mai accepted his arm and smiled gently at Yasuhara. "Let's go, Yasuhara-_kun._" When he'd asked her out for an early dinner and a movie, she'd hesitated to accept. After all, she loved Naru. But she'd decided to go ahead and say yes. It wasn't as if her boss had any interest in her anyway. A dead end, so to speak. And, while Naru's ignorance didn't change how she felt, Mai wondered if the trial relationship with Yasuhara might.

Naru, while seething silently, was grimly satisfied that Mai didn't address Yasuhara as casually as Yasuhara did her. Other than that satisfaction, Naru was pissed. His eyes narrowed another millimeter.

Yasuhara kissed Mai's cheek lightly, causing the girl to blush furiously.

Naru saw red. _How dare…_

With a tentative glance over her shoulder, Mai called a goodbye as Yasuhara escorted her from the office. The door closed quietly behind their exit, and silence descended over SPR.

"Hey, Naru-_chan_," Takigawa called teasingly, "are you wearing contacts or something?"

The glare he received was icy. "No," Naru responded, tone scathing, "but you could use a muzzle."

"Well, that's funny, then. I could have sworn your eyes were green just now."

Before Naru could deliver his undoubtedly cutting reply, Masako decided that now was the time to seize her chance, before he ran back into his office. "Naru, I would like to ask you—."

Coldly, Naru cut her off. "I'm busy at the moment, Hara-_san_. You'll have to come back at a later time." _Like never, _he added silently. He strode back into his office, leaving the Medium shocked, all but slamming the door.

"Is Naru…" Takigawa said tentatively, "…sulking?"

"I believe so. Isn't it wonderful?" Ayako answered cheerfully. This was better than she'd hoped. If he was so angry about Mai dating other guys, then surely he would say something.

Lin shook his head as Takigawa smiled at the miko conspiratorially. _Children. The both of them. _

"So, how long until he cracks, do you think?" Takigawa asked, taking a gulp of iced coffee. "An hour? A day?"

Ayako pursed her lips. "Knowing how stubborn he is, it'd probably take at least a week."

"You're probably right. But what if…"

Ayako's eyes brightened, speculating where the monk was going with his thought. "What if we…helped him along?"

"You read my mind." Takigawa pulled out his cell phone, grinning. "But we'll need some help. If we get everyone here today, he'll crack like an egg."

"You two really shouldn't stick your noses into other people's business," Masako huffed, glaring. She was miffed at having been blown off so easily, sickened by the fact that Mai had foiled her plans again. _How does she manage to do it every single time?_

"Who are you calling?" Lin inquired, leaning a hip against the back of the couch. Frankly, he almost felt bad for Naru. Almost.

"John, of course," Takigawa responded, searching his contacts list for the priest's number.

"Monk-_san_, you are going to call a Catholic priest to help you make Naru even more jealous?" Lin said, looking at the monk in mild disbelief.

"Yeah, so?"

"You do know that envy is considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins, right? And that one of the Ten Commandments is 'Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife'?"

"No, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Ayako stood and marched over to the uncomprehending monk, smacking him on the head. "Idiot! Don't you know anything!?" she berated.

"What the hell was that for!?" Takigawa bellowed, jumping up from his seat and shielding his head from further blows. "Crazy woman!"

Lin winced slightly as he advised, "I would suggest that you two quiet yourselves, before Naru decides to come out of hiding."

Both exorcists froze at the thought of an already antagonized Naru turning his attention on them. Both with parting glares, but quietly, resumed their seats.

"I take it that John's help should not be asked for, then?" Takigawa asked softly, albeit a bit sullenly.

"So happy you figured it out," Ayako muttered sarcastically.

"Then we're on our own."

Ayako nodded. "We are."

Throughout the entire exchange, Masako had become more and more agitated. Finally, she gracefully swept from the office, barely managing polite farewells. Lin, after her departure, shook his head yet again and went back to his office. He wanted no part of whatever plan the monk and miko were cooking up. _It will probably backfire, _he thought, sitting down in front of his laptop. _Perhaps I should handle it instead. It wouldn't be fair to Taniyama if those two idiots botched this. _What could he say? He had a soft spot for the cheery girl.

Out in the common area, Takigawa and Ayako plotted.

oOo

The next two weeks were pure hell. Mai was a nervous wreck, doing everything possible to avoid Ayako and her questions about her date with Yasuhara. Naru was ready to murder Takigawa if the man dropped one more hint about Mai and Yasuhara's "relationship". Somehow, Ayako had managed to trick Mai into showing her pictures that had been taken on their second date. The miko had pocketed a couple and left them lying innocently about where Naru was sure to find them. Everywhere Mai and Naru turned, they were caught in the intricate dance of reminders Ayako and Takigawa had crafted.

Mai hadn't even had the chance to tell anyone a small, important fact.

Lin watched in annoyance as Naru only withdrew farther and farther away from the subject. There was no question in the man's mind that Naru was jealous. The black-clad teen was more volatile than usual, lashing everyone and anyone with his sarcastic, sharp tongue. The more Mai and Yasuhara's dates were mentioned, the more Naru sulked in his office, burying himself in work. Or rather, Naru told everyone he was working. Lin knew otherwise. Most of the time, Naru treated Mai as if she was invisible. As if not acknowledging the girl would make the problem go away.

Meanwhile, Masako lurked around SPR, hoping to catch Naru's attention. But, so far, she'd been unsuccessful. Naru wouldn't say anything to other than the occasional, and irritated, question of why the medium was there.

_What a damn mess, _Lin thought tiredly. It was time he stepped in. He couldn't take much more of the idiocy that was plaguing SPR. He'd run out of headache medication the day before.

Lin snatched a file he needed to deliver to Naru anyway, and went to Naru's door and knocked. He chose to ignore the "I'm busy" response, and opened the door, pausing a moment to let his eyes adjust to the almost absolute darkness of Naru's office. With care, Lin shut the door behind him and dropped the file on the desk.

"I told you that I'm busy," Naru said, eyes intent on his computer screen.

"Playing solitaire?" Lin asked, raising his eyebrow. "Surely you've gotten tired of that by now. Winning everyday for a week must be tiresome."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?"

"No."

"I see." Lin shrugged. He opened the door adding, "By the way, green isn't your color, Naru."

The door shut with a soft click behind him.

Naru continuing staring at his computer screen, placing the last card, the two of hearts, onto its correct stack. He'd been hoping that repetitive solitaire would turn his brain to mush so he wouldn't think about a certain brunette, and her boyfriend.

_"Green isn't your color," he says. What is that supposed to mean? _Naru scowled darkly at the new hand his computer dealt him. _I am _not_ jealous._

_Sure you're not_, a tiny voice whispered in the back of his mind. _You've just been sulking in your office, in the dark, playing solitaire for seven days for fun. _

_Shut up, _he growled back at the voice. Now was not the time to start arguing with himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by a tentative rapping on his door. "I'm busy," he called, voice expressionless.

Despite his excuse, the door creaked open and Mai gingerly stepped into the office, bearing a tray with steaming cups of tea on it. "I thought you could use a cup of tea," she announced, but he noticed the worry in her eyes. She set down a cup at his elbow adding, "And I wanted to ask if I could leave a bit early tomorrow. Around noon, if we don't have a case to take care of."

Naru felt his shoulders tense and his eyes narrow. "I thought I'd made it clear that your relationship with Yasuhara-_san_ would not result in exemptions from work." _I'm going to kill that son of a…_

Mai's face heated up. "Not that it's any of your business, but Yasuhara and I aren't seeing each other anymore. I was planning to take a friend out to lunch for her birthday," she snapped. Inside her chest, she felt a knot loosen. Finally, she'd told someone. Every time she'd tried to tell Ayako or Monk- _san_, she was cut off before she could start. They were too interested in the details of the three dates she and Yasuhara had gone on already.

Slowly, Naru blinked. _What?_ "I see," he said out loud.

_You were all jealous for nothing_, the little voice mocked.

_I thought I told you to shut up! _

"Well?" Mai prompted. She wondered what Naru was staring at so hard in the corner of the room. All she saw was inky shadow. She bit her lip, watching her boss anxiously. She'd left out why she and Yasuhara had called it quits. Every time they went out, she couldn't help but wish the entire time that it was Naru holding her hand. It just hadn't seemed fair to Yasuhara.

"Well what?" Naru questioned, his stare broken by her voice.

"Can I leave early tomorrow?"

Naru shuffled the papers on his desk and replied, "Fine." As long as she wasn't with another man, he didn't have a problem.

_Green…_ the voice crooned.

Mai balanced her tray, thanking him softly and then said, "Masako has been waiting to talk to you for a while." She hated to say it, but she felt bad for the medium. Mai knew how much it hurt to be ignored.

A look of annoyance flickered over Naru's features so quickly that Mai wasn't sure she'd seen it. "I have some errands to run. I'll speak with her later."

"Sure. Do you want me to tell her?" Mai dreaded that message delivery.

"Don't bother. She'll know when I leave," Naru said dismissively. He wondered when the medium would realize that he wasn't interested. He had eyes for only one person, the one who made him feel complete with her smile.

Naru followed Mai out of his office, finding Takigawa and Ayako in the common area with Masako. The pair was whispering fervently, looking suspiciously like they were coming up with another way to annoy him. But when he noticed the green scarf they were both tugging on, he decided they were arguing over the bit of cloth instead.

Lin was also standing in the room, sorting through mail. Wordlessly, the Chinese man handed Naru a notice from the post office. "Some packages came in. They'll need your signature."

Naru took the slip of paper with a frown. Lin usually handled such matters. But when he read the notice, he saw that there were four packages. Too many for one person to handle comfortably.

Naru, without giving the sorcerer a second glance, ordered, "Mai, you're coming to the post office with me."

Puzzled, Mai set down her tray. "Okay."

As she went over to her desk to retrieve her bag, Takigawa finally burst out, "Just get rid of it if you don't want it!"

"But that's so tacky! It was a gift!" Ayako snapped.

"So? You don't want it. Maybe someone else does." Takigawa looked up, spotting Naru first. "Oi! Naru-_chan_! Do you want this?" The monk waved the green scarf around in the air.

Naru and Mai had been right about to leave the office. Naru held the door open for his assistant, loving the smile that graced her lips. He shot Lin a glance, and responded as coolly as ever.

"Sorry, Monk-_san_, green isn't my color."

* * *

(A.N) Well, that's it. The next shot won't be here for a while. I'm leave tomorrow for Japan! (much squealing in joy) First stop Tokyo, the Fukuoka, then (surprisingly) a breif stop in Hiroshima, and then Kyoto! I shall bring back stories and put them in a forum thread if anyone wants! Now, please review!


	14. First Aid

Disclaimer: Jetlag is a bitch. A vengeful bitch, I tell you.

Patches

(A.N.) I'm back! And here's a gift from me to all of you guys! This shot comes to you by way of prompts from **allie** and **PsychicOtaku182** who wanted to see Naru taking care of an an injured by and first aid lessons respectively. And a big thanks to my beta, **Moon Daisuki**, as well as to all of you readers and reviewers. Please enjoy!

* * *

Glass windows shattered in their panes, raining sharp and deceptively delicate looking fragments onto the huddled patrons in the club. The electrical equipment on the stage was short-circuiting and throwing sparks everywhere. It was only a matter of time, Mai Taniyama figured, until something caught on fire.

Mai, her friend Yuki, and others all crouched on the floor of the karaoke bar. Using overturned tables as shields, they all watched, horrified, as objects flew through the air and broke against walls and people who didn't duck fast enough.

"Get down!" Yuki screamed, dragging Mai by the back of the shirt so that they were flat against the hard wood floor. Glass bottles flew inches over their heads and crashed against the wall, followed by one of the metal bar stools.

"We need to get out of here!" Mai yelled back to her friend as she covered her head with her arms.

"You don't say? And here I thought we could stay for a cup of tea." Sarcasm dripped from Yuki's reply in buckets and, despite the dismal situation, Mai had to chuckle.

Well, until a speaker nearly crushed her. Almost becoming a human pancake has a way of draining the humor from life.

_Somebody get us out of here!_ Mai pled silently. _We're going to lose limbs if this keeps up._

"Here!" Yuki called, shoving a plastic tray into Mai's shakinghands. "Hold it in front of you! We'll make a break for the door!"

"You can't be serious!" the brunette protested. "It's too far. We'd never make it!"

"Well, we can't just stay here, can we?! I happen to be fond of my head being attached to my body, thanks!"

"But at least we have some cover here!"

The table they were hiding behind was wrenched away, and out of their grasp.

"You were saying?" Yuki shot back dryly, eyebrows raised.

"Run."

They sprinted for the door.

* * *

Naru was irritated.

Very irritated.

I was Mai's day off and he didn't like it, not one little bit. It was as if the office was several degrees colder in her absence and Naru could have sworn, many times over in fact, that he'd heard her cheery voice echo through the stillness. He was haunted by Mai when she wasn't around, and it annoyed him.

He couldn't think straight when he didn't know where she was. Who knows what dangerous idiocy she was involved in? What trouble had she drawn to herself? Naru certainly didn't know, and it was killing him.

But he couldn't call her back into the office without due cause. If he did…

Unacceptable.

So, Naru coolly cast his eyes about, gauging the pile of papers on his desk and the necessity of having them filed right away. Deeming it a vitally important chore after a few moments of consideration, Naru all but snatched the phone from its cradle and dialed Mai's mobile number without hesitation.

The phone rang in his hands before he finished punching numbers.

* * *

_Pick up! Pick up! Please pick up! _Mai prayed silently, wiping at the blood dripping into her eye.

She and Yuki hadn't made it very far. Their escape had become impossible due to the flying debris and the rubble on the floor. Mai had tripped over some large splinters of wood that used to be a table, while Yuki had been violently body-checked by a full liqueur bottle. Ever now, minutes later, items were being hurled about the room and Mai saw no end to the ghost's tantrum. _Only I could manage this_, she thought, half terrified and half angry. _Only I could walk into the one karaoke bar in the entire district of Shibuya with a temperamental ghost in residence. It figures. _

Ankle throbbing and the newly acquired scratches on her cheek and forehead bleeding sluggishly, Mai hid behind another overturned table and pressed her cell phone desperately to her ear. From the corner of her eye, Mai could see Yuki cowering in one of the booths and holding her arm, which was undoubtedly broken, close to her chest. _Please pick up! Please, Naru! _

"_Hello?"_ a blessedly cool and familiar voice finally answered.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Crying, Mai felt relief spread through her like a balm.

"_Mai?"_

"Yes, yes, it's me! Naru, I need help!"

"_What are you talking about? Mai, where are you?"_

"The karaoke place on Tenjin Street!"

A box of Pocari Sweat bottles dropped down out of nowhere, narrowly missing Mai's leg.

"_What was that noise? Mai, what's going on?"_

Mai opened her mouth to reply. She never saw the pipe until it was too late to get out of its way.

Unconscious, she slumped to the floor, phone sliding from her limp fingers.

"

* * *

The drive was extremely short, considering the distanced he needed to cover. Though that's what generally happens when you ignore traffic laws. All traffic laws. Like red lights. And speed limits. When Naru would later look back upon the memory, he would wonder if he'd ever seen Lin as pale as the man was in the passenger's seat during that perilous ride. But at the present moment, the black haired teen barely registered the existence of other people. All he was focused on behind his tight, controlled mask of expression was those final seconds on the phone with Mai. The dull thump. Her soft gasp of pain.

The lack of response afterwards.

Heart hammering in his chest, Naru braked suddenly when he spotted the karaoke bar. He didn't waste any time in exiting the van, and then dashing into the club.

Lin, on the other hand, was attempting to breathe again and to possibly restart his heart. "Next time," the sorcerer muttered under his breath, sliding out of the vehicle with much more surety than he felt, "I get to drive. He's mad. Absolutely mad. Who in the world gave him a driver's license?" A sudden realization struck Lin. _Oh. Right. He doesn't have one. Not in this country anyway. _

A faint smile graced his lips. Only Mai could get Naru to break the law.

* * *

_She watched, intrigued, as the will-o-the-wisps swirled around her playfully. When they weren't harmful spirits trying to get her killed, Mai conclude that the little balls of light were rather endearing once you got used to them._

_But what was she doing here? The last thing she remembered clearly was pleading with Naru to come rescue her. And then that pipe…_

Oh. So that's what happened_, Mai realized. Now that she remembered, she cursed her luck. How could so many seemingly random bad things happen to one person? It wasn't natural. Not in the slightest._

"_Mai."_

_Completely delighted and unsurprised, Mai turned towards the voice and smiled warmly. "Hey, Naru."_

_Dream Naru, as Mai thought of him, smiled back gently, holding out a hand, which she took without hesitation. He may not have been her real Naru, but Dream Naru was a comfort all the same. It was nice to have reprieve from her controlled boss/crush once in a while. There was only so much a girl's ego could take, after all. Though she doubted she'd be happy with Dream Naru if she stayed for too long. She didn't want to live in a dream world. Reality may suck sometimes, but at least it was tangible. _

"_You need to wake up, you know," Dream Naru said conversationally as he led her through the swirling lights. "Things aren't going too well."_

"_Huh? You mean the ghost's rampage?" Mai felt silly as soon as the question escaped her lips. There wasn't anything else that wasn't going "too well" at the moment._

"_Technically, it's a poltergeist," Dream Naru corrected patiently, "and that's part of it. Once he's calmed down a bit, though, he won't be too much trouble. A basic exorcism should be enough to take care of him."_

"_Oh." Mai blinked a few times. "Then what else is going badly?"_

_An amused, and somewhat secretive, grin twitched at Dream Naru's lips. "Nothing you personally should worry about. Now, wake up."_

"_But what—?"_

"_You'll be fine," he assured her, cutting through her words easily. "Just be patient with the botched first aid you're about to receive. He was never that brilliant at it since it requires actual human interaction. But don't worry, you won't need much more than some bandages, I think."_

"_He… What? Who are you..? Naru—."_

_Again, he interrupted her. "Go on. Wake up."_

* * *

Mai woke up outside the club, wincing at the bright sunlight penetrating her eyes. A splitting pain burst through her skull as she opened her eyes and she groaned pitifully. She suspected that she'd have a really nasty looking bruise on her forehead for a while. "Ow," she moaned softly, pressing a hand against the injured spot.

"Stop moving," someone snapped at her. "You'll only succeed in making it worse, like always."

"Naru..?" Mai whispered, squinting against the spots that had begun obscuring her vision.

"Who else?" Naru asked, sounding mildly irritated. It was as if he blamed her for this little misadventure.

A sudden concern pushed her anger at the assumed unfair blame aside. "Where's Yuki?"

"Who?"

"My friend. She's still inside! I have to—Ah!" Trying to sit up had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

"Idiot," Naru admonished coldly, steadying her with an arm around her shoulders. "I told you to hold still."

"But Yuki is…" Mai's speech capabilities shut down due to her close proximity to Naru. Like always.

"With Lin," Naru finished, eyeing the bruise on her forehead critically. "He's inside right now, taking care of the ghost."

"Poltergeist," Mai corrected without thinking, wincing as Naru probed the scratch on her cheek roughly. "Ow! Watch what you're doing, Naru!"

"Be quiet," he ordered, continuing his less than gentle examination of her various cuts and bruises. It wasn't as if he was deliberately trying to hurt her, he just wasn't all that skilled at things like this. _Where's Matsuzaki-san when you need her? _he wondered furiously, poking at Mai's swollen ankle. _First aid is about the only thing she's good for._

"Hey! That hurts, you jerk!" Mai yelped. Trying to yank her ankle out of his grasp, she only managed to land herself flat on her back again. A flush crept up her neck and settled across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. _Why me?_

"If you don't hold still, I will restrain you," Naru informed her, frown in place.

"You have an awful bedside manner," Mai shot back. "I hope you never have plans to become a doctor, you'd be terrible at it."

He decided that replying to her barb would be beneath him, so instead Naru asked, "Can you stand?"

"Of course. My ankle is only twisted and the size of a grapefruit, and I've only been smacked in the head with a pipe. No problem."

_That blow to the head must have addled her brains. I wasn't even aware Mai knew what sarcasm was, let alone how to use it, _Naru muses silently, resisting the urge to smile. Now that he was assured of her well being—more or less, anyway—he could act as he usually did. Without breaking traffic laws and having his heart pound uncomfortably in his chest. Which was good. Very good. He was, however, still feeling a little murderous. Naru hated feeling out of control, feeling afraid. It was severely inconvenient and, in his case, dangerous.

Wordlessly, Naru picked Mai up, ignoring her startled and embarrassed protests, and loaded her into the passenger's side of the van, shutting her in. He then went into the decimated karaoke bar and informed Lin that he was taking Mai back to SPR, as she seemed to have no serious injuries. Others hadn't been so lucky, Naru observed, seeing one man with a compound leg fracture. The bone poking out of the man's skin was disturbing to behold.

"I'll stay behind and wait for the ambulances," Lin replied, also surveying the damage. "I'll take the subway back." The sorcerer caught the eye of a young teenage girl, Mai's friend Yuki, and smiled faintly. The injured girl had threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't let Mai and Naru have some "alone time".

"Fine." Naru didn't particularly care what Lin did, truthfully. It wasn't as if there was case to work on at the moment.

Without saying farewell, Naru left the club and climbed into the driver's seat of the van, perhaps slamming the door harder than necessary. Mai jumped at the sudden noise, startled by the straining muscles in Naru's wrists. Her eyes flicked from his wrists to his face, noting that the tightened tendons were the only indication of Naru's feelings. _I wonder what he's so angry about. Probably about having to come rescue me, again, I guess._ Mai just barely suppressed a dejected sigh.

Naru turned the ignition and, much slower this time, drove back to SPR.

oOo

Anyone who passed by the SPR office would have been highly suspicious due to the pain-filled yelps and small, surprised screams. Those with imaginations could imagine a grisly murder taking place or, for those of dirtier minds, perhaps some kinky sex was going on behind closed doors. However, they would have all been disappointed to discover that it was only the ordinary event of first aid gone wrong.

"That hurts!" Mai protested for the millionth time, throwing her head back out of Naru's reach.

"Would you rather bleed all over the place?" Naru asked coldly, anger coiling in his chest.

"If it would mean that I could get away from your attempts at first aid, then yes!" the injured girl snarled. "Just give me the kit, Naru! I'm better at this than you are!"

"I doubt that."

"I at least can't be any worse!"

"I doubt that as well."

"You arrogant, son of a—Ow!" Naru had cut her off, pressing a disinfectant soaked gauze pad against her cheek.

Holding the gauze pad steady, Naru said expressionlessly, "If this is what you do to yourself by just walking into a club, there is no chance that I'm letting you near scissors and long strips of cloth. You'd murder yourself. Then I'd have to go through the ridiculous process of finding another assistant, which is something that I don't have the time for." _Nor do I have the heart…_

"You're a sadist," Mai accused darkly, wondering why he was still pushing the pad against her skin. "And you're giving me a new bruise. You don't have to be so rough, you know. The disinfectant will clean the scratch without you forcing it directly into my face."

The pressure on her cheek eased and Naru raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Much better," Mai mumbled, mostly to herself. Her memory rang with Dream Naru's request that she be patient. How in the world could he have predicted this? Surely a conjured spirit guide, a creation of her own mind, couldn't have known Naru would be this terrible at bandaging up a few cuts and scrapes. It was impossible. _Right?_

Endeavoring to prove that he could perform first aid as well as anyone, Naru used a gentler touch to wipe the smears of blood off of Mai's face. Without the crimson stains, she didn't look so hurt and a knot loosened in his chest. The cut on her forehead was rather small and the one on her cheek shallow. The bruise from the pipe was dark purple, but Mai didn't seem to be disoriented or nauseous, so the blow couldn't have been as serious as he'd first assumed. The worst injury, he supposed, was her twisted ankle, which was, as Mai had so correctly named it, the size of a grapefruit. But it wasn't turning black, so nothing was broken. At least, that's what Mai had shouted at him when he'd suggested she should get X-rays.

In fact, Mai seemed to know a lot about first aid. Which shouldn't have surprised him, he supposed. Naru suspected that Mai, being an orphan and as clumsy as she was, had to patch herself up constantly. How many times has she come in with bandages on her knees or braces wrapped around a wrist or some other joint? He'd always noticed the new injuries, but never commented on them. Takigawa usually asked the girl how she'd gotten hurt and Naru would wait for her answer. Always, it was that she fell or ran into some inanimate object. If she'd answered something different, then Naru would have taken action, but it was ridiculous to get too worked up over her accidents. That's what he told himself anyway.

He wasn't too successful in the "don't get worked up" department, but kept the fact to himself. Like always, Naru had a little complex about control.

"Um, you can stop now," Mai said softly, breaking into his thoughts. "I think you got all the blood." She watched, transfixed, as the faraway look in Naru's eyes disappeared and wondered what he'd been thinking. His overall expression hadn't changed, but she'd seen him retreat a little farther into his own thoughts. She could tell. She could always tell.

She blushed under the critical once over he gave her face, flinching in surprise when another piece of gauze was pressed over the line on her cheek. So caught up in her own trance, she'd forgotten that bandaging was next.

Naru cut a strip of medical tape from the roll and applied it over the gauze, trying to be careful and at the same time make the tape stick. Next, he applied a butterfly bandage to Mai's forehead, mindful of the hulking bruise. "Done," he declared, throwing wrappers and scraps and blood stained gauze into the trash.

Momentarily breathless from when Naru had leaned in close to apply the band aid to her head, Mai nodded and, after a couple tries, said, "Thanks." It came out less of a sincere confession of gratitude and more of a breathless sigh.

Naru frowned. _Is she going to faint? I don't believe she's lost that much blood and she swore she wasn't feeling drowsy…_ He leaned forward to take a closer look at her face, examining it for any sign of distress.

_What is he..? _Mai felt her heart and stomach do strange, unnatural flip-flops. Her breath hitched in her chest.

Still frowning, Naru asked, "Are going to faint?"

And before she could think of anything else to say, she replied, "If you keep this up, I probably will."

For being a remarkably intelligent guy, Naru was also incredibly dense. Look at his initial attempts at first aid. Due to this unfortunate dense-ness, he did not quite pick up the exact meaning of Mai's statement. He thought she was referring to the abysmal first aid he'd performed.

But, just to clarify… "What are you babbling about?"

Mai blushed vividly. "N-nothing."

"I would rather know in advance before you pass out," he informed her, sounding annoyed. Again. He hated it when people gave evasive answered like "Nothing".

_Then please move back so I can breathe again, _she wanted to say, but the words stuck in her throat. _Really, really, REALLY close… _Mai had to remind herself to inhale, and had her heart almost stop again when the scent of black tea and detergent filled her nose. _This is no fair!_

"Mai?" Naru felt a stab of worry as the girl's eyes seemed to glaze over. Gently, he shook her shoulders, leaning in even closer in well hidden concern.

Mai's stomach dropped and her heart jumped into the vicinity of her throat. "F-fine!" Her voice was still breathy, though much more higher pitched with panic.

"You're an awful liar."

"And you're an awful doctor," she managed to retort, though it was devoid of bite.

"Are you still going to pass out?'

"Maybe."

"How certain is 'maybe'?"

Face bright red, Mai said, "Very probable." A wave of dizziness washed over her.

"You told me just a few minutes ago that you weren't feeling dizzy or faint. When did it start?" Naru's voice was clinical, but he felt anxiety creeping up on him. "You should have said something."

"It didn't start until just a couple minutes ago," Mai confessed, wishing whole-heartedly that he would back up and take his appealing Naru-scent with him.

"When I bandaged your head?"

"Yeah, about then." A new blush broke over her skin.

"_Are you going to faint?"_

"_If you keep this up, I probably will."_

His mind replayed the words for him unbidden. _She couldn't possibly mean…_

"_Jou-chan_!" The door to SPR burst open barely in time to admit a wildly concerned Takigawa. "Lin called and said you'd been hurt! Are you all right? Have you gone to the hospital? Are you—?"

"I'm okay, Monk-_san_!" Mai exclaimed, heading off the anxious bassist. "Naru just had to patch me up is all!"

Takigawa froze for a moment to consider all the aspects of that statement, and then smiled wolfishly. "Oh, really?"

Silently, Naru left the two of them to bicker at each other, laughing behind his controlled mask. _I wonder if she really did mean…_

Perhaps Naru should try to patch Mai up more often.

* * *

(A.N.) Please review!


	15. Wolf

Disclaimer: I'm alive!

Through Wolf's Eyes

(A.N.) I don't suppose that an apology is going to cut it this time, huh? Well, I'll give it a go anyway. I'm really, really, really, really sorry for not posting in forever. I could say that I was busy, which is true, but I've also had a ginormous case of writer's block and of laziness. Please forgive me and enjoy this new installment. I didn't have a beta this time around since I wanted to get this out as soon as I finished it. Oh, and a thank you to **Hamano Ayumi** for some inspiration. A while ago, she asked to see a shot involving animals. I don't think this is quite what she had in mind, but her suggesting was the driving force for my starting this installment.

* * *

It could have been worse, Mai supposed. She wasn't injured. She wasn't trapped in a dark, creepy place. She wasn't making a fool out of herself in front of Naru. In fact, she mused, the predicament she'd managed to stumble into wasn't that bad, all things considered.

Though she was dreading the thought of dealing with fleas. She hoped none of the pests made a home at the shrine.

"Where the hell is Mai?" Naru mumbled under his breath as she watched him through the cracked open door. It was clear to the girl that he didn't plan on being overheard. If it weren't for her suddenly enhanced hearing, Mai herself would not have caught the soft question. She observed him silently for a moment, admiring his masculine beauty as he checked his watched subtly. The scent of concern and irritation flowed off him in waves so strong that Mai's nose twitched.

_Is he…worried about me?_

His technical assistant, Lin, was working across the room at a computer. The arrangement was as things were usually done during an investigation.

_How am I going to convince him?_ Mai wondered. _It's not as if I can just tell him…_

Huffing slightly, she quietly eased through the half open doorway where she'd been sitting for the past ten minutes. The first step, she decided, was to get his attention.

At first, he didn't even look at her when she stood next to him, not even when she nudged his chair. It was Lin who, turning and spotting her, cleared his throat to catch Naru's attention. The sorcerer nodded pointedly at Mai.

With those piercing blue eyes staring down at her, Mai wasn't exactly sure what to do next. She knew exactly what had happened to her (sort of), but she couldn't explain the memories to Naru as they ran through her head.

It hadn't seemed like a particularly dangerous assignment. A monk had come to S.P.R. just days before, requesting them to investigate some strange sounds and sightings of a large dog-like creature at his shrine. Normally, the monk had said, he would have had one of his brethren take care of such a spiritual disturbance, but none of the other monks had been able to identify the problem. And if they didn't know what the spirit was exactly, then they couldn't exorcise it. So, he wanted S.P.R. to lend a hand.

Naru had agreed, bringing Mai and Lin along for the initial assessment. Both he and Lin, after a cursory examination of the shrine, concurred that the three of them would be more than enough to get the job done.

Mai had been assigned her usual duty of collecting data from the various areas of the shrine and the shrine's grounds, in addition to setting up cameras and microphones. Normally, she accomplished this task with little trouble. All she had to do was use some of Naru's fancy equipment to measure temperature and to change the tapes in the video camera. Piece of cake. Well, until something strange had caught her eye.

It had been a small, overgrown altar. It was made of rough hewn stone, worn from years of being exposed to the elements. Mai had not noticed the small altar in her previous tours of the outside and was curious. She'd gone over and pulled the weeds away from the altar, surprised to find characters carved onto the stone surface. "_Ookami_" she'd read. Wolf.

Frowning, she'd touched the symbol, tracing the engraving thoughtfully.

Before she'd known what was happening, she'd been blinded by a bright green light, overcome by the scent of the woods and fur. The howl of a wolf had rung in her head as she'd passed out.

When she'd woken up, she'd been just as she was now.

Furry and a bit confused.

But it wasn't as if she could tell Naru all that. She didn't have a human mouth anymore and the only sounds her wolf-muzzle was capable of making were whines, growls, barks, and anything else that wolves generally did.

"A dog?" Naru murmured. "How did it get in?" He was crouching in front of her now, putting his head just above her fuzzy one. The sharp smell of black tea and mint wafted off of him, comforting in its familiarity but disconcerting at the same time. She'd never been able to smell him so clearly before.

"It looks more like a wolf," Lin commented from his spot across the room. He sounded a bit wary. "Perhaps it would be best if you backed away from it, Naru."

Mai did her best to look small and friendly, even going so far as wagging her tail vigorously. The last thing she needed was for them to think her a dangerous animal. They'd probably call Animal Control or something. The thought made her fur stand on end in horror.

Belatedly, a very negative idea crossed Mai's mind. What if Naru wasn't an animal person? She'd never seen him so much as touch a cute puppy, and she doubted that he'd adopted any kittens. And if he couldn't be seduced by adorable puppies and kittens, then what hope did she have?

_Please like dogs, please like dogs, please like dogs…_ she prayed.

"It doesn't appear to be that dangerous," Naru observed mildly, glancing at Lin. "Not unless you count us slipping on its drool."

Mai yipped indignantly. _I do _not_ drool, you narcissistic jerk!_

"I think you've offended her," said Lin as he smiled slightly. The animal was clearly female as far as he could tell, and Naru was correct in his observation that she seemed rather harmless. The only thing that nagged at Lin's mind was the rumor of the dog-like "entity" that the monks and _miko_ at the shrine had reported seeing.

Naru smirked and, gently, scratched Mai's ears. "I'm sure she'll forgive me."

Nearly melting, it was all Mai could do to keep herself from letting her tongue loll out of her mouth as happy canines were prone to do. _Definitely a dog person_, she thought happily. Wanting to further the illusion of a friendly stray, she stretched out one of her front paws and rested it on his knee. _I_ _could really use this. What better way to find out more about Naru than follow him as a wolf? He'd never know._

And so, she resolved to do exactly that. She'd stay with him as a wolf for a couple of hours, just to see if she could nose out some of his secrets. After those few hours, she'd see what she could do to change back to a human again. It couldn't be that hard. After all, it had been easy to get herself into this mess. Logic followed that it ought to be easy to reverse whatever she'd done.

Naru continued running his fingers lightly through her fur. To him, she was nothing more than an amiable animal. He couldn't bring himself to think of her as a dog now that he'd realized he'd been mistaken when he first saw her. He recognized a wolf when he saw one. National Geographic magazines had shot enough pictures of wolves for him, as a dedicated reader, to know the difference between a dog and a wolf. Her muzzle was a slightly different shape, as was the animal's torso. She was bigger than most dogs could ever hope to be. Plus, the canine has no dog-like markings. No spots or streaks. She looked like a common timber wolf that had a bit more auburn in her coloring than was normally seen in the breed, and her honey-colored eyes were a bit darker as well.

But if he was correct and this animal was a wolf, then why was she so comfortable with humans? As far as he knew, wolves didn't just waltz up to humans and let said humans pet them. It was as if the auburn wolf was tame. _An escaped zoo animal?_ he wondered, but quickly dismissed the theory. There were no zoos nearby for her to have come from, nor did she have any sort of tags. Not even the kind that was inserted under the skin of the neck, which he checked for as he petted her.

"Where did you come from?" he asked the wolf thoughtfully.

Mai contemplated whether she wanted to even attempt answering the question. _It couldn't hurt to try, I suppose…_ Cocking her head to one side, she nudged Naru's hand with her muzzle and withdrew from his ear scratching. She trotted back to the door and stood there a moment, looking over her shoulder at him.

Frowning, Naru eyed the wolf critically. What was it doing?

_He's not following me. _If Mai could have frowned, she would have. But since wolves didn't seem to possess the ability to frown, she settled for growling impatiently and returning to Naru's side, where she promptly sank her teeth into his pant leg. Tugging, she tried to lead him to the door.

Naru nearly lost his balance as the wolf pulled on his leg. "Enough of that!" he snapped. He wasn't about to let an animal tell him what to do.

Blatantly ignoring him, the wolf continued, even going so far as to glare up at him and growl as she did so. _Jerk_, Mai thought. _Stubborn, narcissistic, pigheaded…_ The list went on and on and on….

Lin watched the scene unfold with a tiny smile curling his lips. To say the situation was humorous would have been an understatement.

The wolf finally succeeded in dragging Naru's leg out from under himself, causing the black-clad teen to tumble ungracefully onto the wooden floor.

_Yes, a gross understatement indeed, _the sorcerer added silently.

Mai was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of her and Naru's little tug of war. _I win!_ she thought gleefully. Her tail wagged in amusement as Naru pushed himself onto his elbows and glared daggers at her. Releasing his pant leg, she pranced over to the door and turned, waiting.

"That was quite unnecessary," the fallen ghost hunter snapped icily. He felt like a fool, and he hated it.

Mai panted in wolf laughter, eyes twinkling mischievously. _Serves you right._

Gracefully, he levered himself to his feet, brushing off his pants. "I assume you wanted me to follow you?" he asked crossly. When the wolf nodded, he smirked. "I don't think I will. I have work to do, you know."

Mai growled. _No good, pompous, spiteful…_ She was becoming very proficient at insulting Naru in her head. She glared at him, but knew that it would be no use trying to drag him out again. Once Naru decided to do something, he would not alter his way of thinking for anyone.

_Fine_, Mai huffed, even though she knew he couldn't understand her. _I'll just wait for you. I do that all the time anyway. I've gotten really good at it._

She trotted over to Naru as he seated himself in his chair once more. He stared at her suspiciously, eyes narrowed. Mai glared back, hoping that her new set of pointy teeth would make him take her seriously.

It didn't. Naru looked away from her indifferently and ignored her. Completely.

Grumbling, Mai laid down next to his chair, resting her head on her forepaws. She had a feeling that she was going to be waiting for a while. _Might as well take a nap… It's not like he's doing anything interesting… _Except that, try as she might, she couldn't get her eyes to drift closed. She was watching Naru's every move, examining his expression. Nothing unusual.

It was hard to fall asleep. Every little noise made her twitch. But, slowly, her fuzzy eyelid's slid closed and she drifted into nothingness.

* * *

Naru's fingers worked efficiently on the keyboard. He searched every newspaper site in the region already, and he had now moved onto folklore. Without thinking, his eyes flicked over his shoulder to check on Lin's progress. The Chinese man was examining the footage from the last camera Mai had set up. Then Naru's gaze slipped down to the wolf sleeping next to his feet. A thoughtful frown creased his forehead and tugged his lips downward. Where had the animal come from? There was nothing spirit-like about her, so she couldn't be the phantom of which the shrine's caretakers had spoken.

But his thoughts skipped again, back to Mai. Where was she? He couldn't seem to do anything but worry about her. Why was every case like this? Everyday? There was always something to worry about when it came to Mai. She was so prone to trouble as it was, and her altruistic and trusting nature didn't do anything but complicate that.

What if she was hurt?

Just the notion made Naru's blood run cold.

He checked the clock at the bottom right of his laptop screen. He'd give Mai five more minutes before he went to find her. Just five minutes.

He hoped those five minutes proved his concern to be unfounded.

* * *

_The ghost lights were very faint, only shedding enough light for Mai to see the bare outlines of the trees around her. Wind caressed her face and clothes gently, smelling like spring rain. Mai cast her eyes about, knowing she was dreaming, but not quite sure of what. There didn't seem to be anything happening._

"_Just wait," a soft baritone voice urged from behind her. "Be patient. They're coming."_

_She didn't even have to turn to know who the speaker was. Dream-Naru. Who else could it be? Looking over her shoulder, she asked, "Who's 'they'?"_

_A small and secretive smile, different from the knowing smirk of his real world counterpart, graced Dream-Naru's face. He took a few graceful steps forward so that they were shoulder to shoulder. "You'll see."_

_A rustling of the leaves and ground-hugging on the forest floor drew Mai's attention to her left. A monk strolled into the clearing. His robe was of the traditional style, the colors black and white. His head was shaved, his face unlined. _

_And at his side, a great white wolf kept pace easily, its great gold eyes watchful and wise._

_Stopping half-way into the clearing, the monk inquired, "Is there nothing that can be done?" He fixed a wondering look on the wolf._

_The wolf paused, and then shook its head. It trotted a few paces ahead of the monk and settled on its haunches in the young grass._

"_Then it will be as you've seen." The monk's tone was torn between resignation and sorrow. "Your kin will disappear from this earth, taken by hunters, and there is nothing that we can do to protect any of them? Not even your pack?"_

_Another nod from the wolf._

_The monk demanded, "Why not? You and yours have protected this shrine for so long. Let my brothers and I protect you."_

_The wolf's fur bristled slightly and it shook its entire body, an empathetic no. _

"_Spare the talk of fate," the monk said, waving a hand. "I care not for it at this point." Suddenly, he deflated, a defeated expression weighing heavily on his youthful face. "I care not for it because I know that it cannot be changed. It will be as you say. I am only comforted that you will remain in spirit." An unhappy smile pulled his lips up. He went to the wolf and dropped bonelessly onto the ground beside it, throwing an arm around its back. "Perhaps I will not feel so lonely and useless then. Or I could simply activate the charm on the guardian stone and run beside you at the end. We will see."_

_The night was silent around the two of them. Great sorrow hung in the air, tangible. Mai could only feel sadness, even though she knew she was only hearing half of the conversation. _

"_Time to go," Dream-Naru whispered in her ear. At his last word, the dimly lit night faded at the edges. _

oOo

Mai woke to the sound of Naru's chair scraping back off the floor. Nothing seemed to have changed during her nap except that Naru was now visibly agitated. She knew the gestures he was making, even without looking. He would frown and his shoulders would be tensed up. When he thought no one was looking, he would run a hand through his dark hair, pulling at it slightly. Mai had caught him doing so more than once.

Jumping to her feet, Mai took off after Naru as he stalked out of the room. Lin was left behind with no apparent explanation, though the sorcerer stayed put. He was as used to this sort of behavior from Naru as Mai was.

_Where is he going?_ she wondered. He was heading for the door to the outside; the same one Mai had used when she'd left to set up the camera and when she'd sneaked in as a wolf.

It was nice to be able to keep up with Naru, she realized. Usually, she had to skip a bit in order to that since he liked to take long strides when he walked. But now her four nimble feet enabled her to stay next to him. It was something she could come to like.

He seemed to be looking for something. Mai could see his sharp blue eyes darting around appraisingly, yet another familiar sight. He was always looking at his surroundings like that, as if he could uncover all the answers in a glance. Come to think of it, he probably could. It certainly seemed like he did.

"Where are you?" he murmured to himself, continuing on. He was circling around the corner of the shrine, following the same path Mai had when she'd been sent out earlier.

_Is he looking for me? He really is worried?_ Mai was in mild shock. Naru never really seemed to be concerned for her, even when there was reason to be concerned. The closest he had ever come was the time they'd been trapped in that manhole and he had showed her some slight of hand tricks. _No, wait. That's not right._ The closest he came was when I had that awful dream of dying in the Vlad case. _He brought me tea…_

She was warmed a little by the memory, but there was no time to dwell on it. Naru had sped up, his strides longer and quicker. His face was as calm as always, almost arrogant. The only sign of his agitation were his speed and the set of his shoulders. Mai recognized all the tells. He was asking a hoard of silent questions, weighing what he knew against possible explanations.

_When this is all over and I have opposable thumbs again, I'm going to make him a big cup of tea_, Mai promised herself. She felt bad for her apparent disappearance.

Abruptly, Naru halted where Mai had placed the last camera. His critical eyes flicked over everything. He slowly began to move around the area, searching for Mai. There had to be some trace of her. Had she gone into the woods? If she had, why?

The wolf had been following him the entire way and he again wondered, briefly, why it was here. Did it have something to do with case?

He pushed the musings away. His only concern at the moment was looking for Mai. Once she was found, and definitely after he'd lectured her about randomly disappearing, he would worry about the wolf.

Amongst all the green, a bright gray-white object caught his eyes. Some sort of stone. Upon closer inspection he found an old stone altar. A couple hundred years old, by his estimate. It was over grown, but someone had recently pulled some of the plant growth away, the fresh tears still a vibrant green. The grass and dead leaves in front of the stone were crushed as if someone had knelt, as Naru was currently doing, at the altar. Had it been Mai? It would have had to have been. The camera feed had showed no one new in the area since Mai had disappeared from the camera's sight.

The wolf was still sticking to his side. She seemed just as intrigued as he was with the stone, but Naru could have been wrong. He was an expert at a great many things, and more capable than most at what he hadn't mastered. However, reading wolf expressions was not one of his talents or skills.

His examination brought him to the deep carving on the altar's surface. The character for wolf. He reached out a pale hand to touch the mark. It looked as old as the altar itself.

Teeth closed around his wrist firmly, preventing the motion. Surprise showed only in the barely perceptible dilation of his eyes. The wolf had closed her jaws around his arm. Not hard enough to break the skin, but there was enough pressure to ensure that he couldn't move without slicing his skin on her fangs.

"Let go," Naru ordered. He was busy. How dare this animal get in his way.

The wolf glared back at him, stubbornness shining in its dark amber eyes. It was a look that Naru knew. Mai often glared at him the same way. The resemblance was slightly disturbing. He could almost hear his assistant. "Arrogant, stupid narcissist," she'd say.

Naru's twin would have stuck to the more simple "idiot scientist".

"I'm busy," he snapped, tugging slightly on his captured arm.

The wolf held firm, doing some pulling of her own. She dragged his arm away from the stone and forced Naru to move backwards. He didn't want his arm ripped off.

Once he was about two or three feet from the altar, the wolf released him and went to the front of the altar herself. She cocked her head to the side for a moment before she sat and raised a hesitant paw.

"What are you doing?" Naru was perplexed by the wolf's unorthodox behavior. What sort of wild animal acted like this one did?

Apparently, ignoring him, the wolf placed her shaggy gray paw against the carving.

There was no shimmer of light. No mist to hide the actual transition. One minute, Naru had been looking at a wolf. The next he was looking at Mai.

Who had no clothes on.

Mai didn't notice her state of undress right away. She was too busy enjoying her own human form again. But then she glanced down to make sure she wasn't furry.

How her clothes had gotten lost between transformations escaped her.

However, before she could shriek, something was draped across her shoulders. "Explain," Naru ordered. His voice was level, almost indifferent. But Mai could see the tension in his shoulders, especially since he wasn't wearing his jacket anymore.

Pulling the ebony material around her, Mai grimaced. "I really need to stop touching things."

"Idiot."

"Hey, you were going to touch it, too, jerk. Think about that before you call me names."

"I wouldn't have touched the actual character," Naru corrected, "just the area around it. I, unlike you, know better."

"You know, a 'welcome back' would be nice." Mai was only half kidding. She knew that this sort of banter was Naru's version of 'welcome back' or 'I'm glad you're alright'. "By the way, we're wasting our time here. The ghost isn't really a ghost."

"What in world are you babbling about? Don't tell me your time as a wolf made you even less intelligent. I would have thought it would have made you smarter. You really had nowhere to go but up." That evil, arrogant smirk of his was twitching his lips upward ever so slightly. What he really wanted to do, instead of carrying on this sort of snippy exchange, was to wrap her in his arms and never let her go. But he wasn't that sort of person and that wasn't going to change. He showed his emotions differently than most people.

From the warm look in Mai's honey eyes, Naru realized that Mai understood that.

In turn, Mai had come to know that she did know all the little things about Naru. She knew not only how he expressed his feelings, but also how he thought and how he liked his tea. She knew that he was more a night person than a morning person and that he abhorred the taste of coffee. He always smelled of black tea and mint, among other things. She knew his expressions by heart. She could gauge his mood better than anyone, except for maybe Lin. And a host of other facts. All the little, important things.

Though, she hadn't known he was a dog person. As far as she was concerned, it was just another thing to put in the plus column of why being in love with him was so completely right.

* * *

(A.N.) I hope you all enjoyed this one. I'm going to really try to be more consistant with my updates from now on. Now, with that in mind, REVIEWS are much loved. Please leave them.


	16. Self Defense

Disclaimer: Breaking Dawn is a-fucking-mazing!

Hit Me

(A.N.) Hey there, everybody. I'm back with another one! Sorry about the delay. I've been busy doing a whole host of different stuff. Getting into college was a hell of a lot easier than preparing to go, if you ask me. XD Anyways, this shot came from a prompt made by **miss koneko**. She suggest some self-defense lessons. I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Because it will make me feel better."

"But that hurt, Monk-_san_!"

"You are going to learn how to do this even if it kills you, Mai."

"It feels like it just might."

"Don't be a baby, _jou-chan_. I didn't even hit you that hard. Besides, once you learn how to block, then you won't get hit."

Mai begged to differ. The monk had nailed her in the shoulder with a punch that she was supposed to be deflecting_. Fat chance of that_, she snorted silently. Hadn't the man realized how clumsy she was? Self-defense was not something that she was going to be good at. End of story. And yet, he wouldn't let the matter drop.

She supposed that she should have expected it really. After being attacked, again, by some possessed creep, she'd had the crap kicked out of her in no time at all. None of her friends and co-workers had been pleased. At all. Especially since she'd had to stay in the hospital for two days before she was free to go home. Stupid, really. She kept telling them that she didn't have a concussion. But would they listen? Oh, no.

She couldn't remember a time when Lin-_san_ had come so close to a facial expression.

"Look," she said crossly, folding her arms across her chest, "I just don't think that this is going to work. I'm terrible at this sort of stuff." Her eyes cast about the empty S.P.R. office and wondered what Naru or Lin would think of Takigawa's impromptu use for the space. "And are you sure we should be doing this here? Naru's not going to be happy about it."

"Naru's not happy about anything," Takigawa quipped back. He was torn between amusement and irritation. He wanted Mai to be able to defend herself when he and the others weren't around. It killed him inside every time she got hurt. If he could do something to prevent that, then he was going to do it. "Now, hands up. We're going to try that again."

A stubborn person herself, Mai recognized that arguing with the monk was not going to be effective. So, with a sigh, she held her hands up in front her, fists just around face level and her arms close to her body. The arm that was closest to Takigawa, her left one, was the one that she was supposed to be blocking with. Her pseudo-big brother had called the move an "outside block".

"Ready?" the bassist asked.

"Not really."

"Okay."

The punch came at her slower than the last time, but still fast enough that she panicked a bit. Instead of using her arm to knock the blow away, she stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet at she went. With a small yelp, she tumbled to the ground. And stayed there. Muttering. "I hate you," she groaned.

"You wound me, _jou-chan_," Takigawa moaned, placing a hand over his heart in a very dramatic motion. A smile was playing about his lips. "Are you alright?"

"Sure. This happens all the time, you know. The floor is starting to feel like a second home."

"Uh-huh. Need a hand up?" He offered her his hand, palm facing out.

Mai took it gratefully, wincing as he hauled her to her feet. Her back hurt like nobody's business. "Ow." She rubbed at the aching spot with the hope of soothing it. Unfortunately, kneading the bruises only made them hurt worse, so she stopped and, feeling very defeated, collapsed into a chair.

"That was better than the last time," Takigawa said. At Mai's incredulous look, he added, "This time, you actually moved." He was grinning slightly.

Mai fought a loosing battle to keep her scowl on her face. But she wasn't the sort to hold onto her anger, and her frown was gradually replaced with a conspiratorial smile. "We'd better put the room to rights before the others get back. Or Naru will have our heads."

"More like our souls," the monk grumbled in response. "Those scathing remarks of his are enough to wither little pieces of my spirit."

Arranging the area rug back into its proper place, the girl winced in sympathy. "Yeah." Suddenly, she was in her own little world of thoughts. Naru had been particularly prickly lately, ever since her hospitalization. She was sure that he was mad at her, but hadn't quite worked up the courage to ask him about it yet. She'd even ventured tentative inquiries to Lin, who had only said that she should be asking Naru instead of him.

Takigawa eyed Mai as her expression became worried and thoughtful, and resisted the urge to shake his head. The cinnamon-eyed girl was clearly thinking about her less than friendly boss. _The two of them are killing each other_, he thought. _Ridiculous, really._ He knew Mai was far to shy to ever admit her feelings about the handsome ghost hunter. And her near-death experiences, instead of drawing Naru closer to her like they would a_ normal_ person, only seemed to turn the youth into a more reserved glacier. Truthfully, it was comically painful to watch.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Mai attempted to pull the couch back into the center of the room. A protest rose in his throat, but before it could be voiced, the girl had already yanked on the piece of furniture and only managed to end up on the floor again.

"I can't win!" she half-shouted. "Why is that?"

Biting his lip to keep his laughter to himself, the monk once more helped her to her feet. "I could give you a long winded lecture about karma, or about suffering, but I'll just settle for a much shorter explanation. You are incredibly uncoordinated."

"Now you sound like Naru," Mai accused, shoving a finger into her friend's chest.

Takigawa pretended to be offended. "You don't have to go and insult me."

"After the last hour of torture you put me through, yes, I do." Absently, the brunette ran her hands over her blue T-shirt and straightened it over the Capri pants she was wearing. "Now, are you going to help me move the couch, or are you going to keep spouting Naru-isms?" A bright, teasing smile lit up her face as she asked. Her eyes even sparkled a bit.

"I don't know…Those Naru-isms are really fun…" He went to the other end of the couch and bent, lifting that end as he straightened. Mai hefted the other side, clearly not as easy about it as the monk was.

Their banter continued as they pushed and lifted furniture back into place. At the rate they were going, both were hopeful that they could finish up before Naru returned.

They weren't that lucky.

Mai and Takigawa were in the middle of re-positioning the chairs. Or rather, Takigawa was transporting chairs while Mai did her best to have him put the furniture exactly where they had been before. Not that it mattered. Naru had caught them in the act.

"What are you doing?" the black-clad ghost hunter asked, narrowing his eyes. He stood in the doorway, hand still on the knob, looking just as handsome (in Mai's opinion) and cold as usual.

"Feng shui," Takigawa grunted, shoving an armchair across the floor. "Does that look right, _jou-chan_?"

Mai had to swallow a couple times before she could even imagine answering. _He shouldn't be able to still do this to me_, she berated herself silently. _The 'wow' factor really should have worn off by now…_

"_Jou-chan_?" the bassist prompted, a knowing look in his eyes.

Blushing furiously, the girl tore her eyes away from her sinfully good-looking boss and answered, "Um, yeah. That's perfect, Monk-_san_."

"And who gave you permission to rearrange the furniture?" Naru's question was mild, but neither Mai nor Takigawa was fooled. They were about to have their souls shredded into little pieces by his glare, never mind his words.

A slightly nervous chuckle escaped the monk. "Buddha?"

"Try again."

"That was my only guess."

"Pity. For you, I mean." Naru's tone was nothing short of mocking. The teen finally shut the door to the office behind him. The sound was deceptively soft and unthreatening.

Wanting desperately to change the subject, Mai said, "Where's Lin-_san_? I thought he was with you."

"He had other business to take care of," Naru replied without even sparing the girl a glance. He was too busy glaring at the monk who, still, had not released the chair he was moving. "Now, what were you two _really_ doing?"

"Help," Takigawa mouthed at Mai. He knew that, if it came from her, Naru was much less likely to verbally abuse him. The girl was also a little immune to the ghost hunter's cold demeanor. _Well. They say love is blind. Maybe it's deaf, too._

The brunette took pity on the poor monk. "We needed some more space, so we had to push the furniture out of the way so it didn't get in the way."

"And why did you need more space?" Naru had finally turned towards her, pinning her under his sapphire gaze.

Coherency deserted her for a moment, as it tended to do every time she met Naru's eyes directly. It was unfair how affected she was by his presence, especially since he did not seem affected at all by hers. A moment passed where she had to gather her scattered thoughts, then she responded, "Well, Monk-san thought it was a good idea to teach me self-defense. Which it isn't by the way. I don't need it. And I only trip all over the place, anyway. And I could never actually hurt someone else, even if they were attacking me. If they're possessed, it's not their fault. Hurting them wouldn't be fair. Oh, and if it's a ghost, then why would self-defense work anyway? You can't punch a ghost." She was babbling. She knew she was. But that didn't seem to make the flow of words slow at all. "I mean, really. The last time was only my fifth hospital visit in the past two months. And I only had to stay for a couple days this time. Nothing broken. No stitches. No reason to—."

"Mai."

"…Yes, Naru?"

"That's enough."

"Oh." She blinked a few times, chewing on her lip.

Naru couldn't help but think her fidgeting was enticing. Very enticing. A frustrated growl built up in his chest, though he smothered it with the ease of long practice. Mai was just so damn _vulnerable._ She was a proverbial magnet for anything dangerous. He couldn't resist being angry with himself whenever she was injured, feeling that he'd failed to protect her. He just wanted to lock her in his office, where he could keep her out of danger.

And, as far as he was concerned, that was very much still an option.

With effort, Naru diverted his attention to Takigawa, who was looking very much interested in the conversation. "I suggest that you finish putting everything back in place. That means that each chair, table, and everything else will be _exactly_ where it was before you pursued your idiotic idea."

_What do you know? Something Naru and I agree on_, Mai couldn't help but think. It had been a very stupid idea.

The monk considered, briefly, refusing. However, he liked his head being attached to his shoulders, so instead he acquiesced. "Right. Got it."

Naru was already opening the door to his personal office, having headed there before the monk replied. There had been no doubt of the bassist following his orders. "Mai."

Now that she wasn't drowning under Naru's stare, the girl has some of her fire back. "What is it now?"

"Tea."

He shut the door behind him.

_That arrogant, egotistical…_ "I'm going to kill him," she grumbled as she headed for the kitchenette.

Continuing to shove the furniture about, Takigawa smiled. "Good luck with that."

Mai set the kettle on the two-burner stove and turned on the gas lit flame. While the water heated, she busied herself with making some coffee as well, which she would ice for Takigawa. Once the coffee was brewing, she pulled down the appropriate cups and extracted a bag of black tea from the cupboards, arranging everything so that it was easily accessible. She also rummaged through the small fridge to find some lemon wedges.

It took about five or six minutes for the kettle to start whistling shrilly. An oven mitt in hand, she took it off the heat, flipped open the spout, and poured the boiling hot water into the cup with the tea bag in it. She put the kettle down and took up a lemon wedge next, squeezing the sour juice into the tea. The movements were automatic since it was routine she repeated more than once a day. She barely had to think about it.

The Western-style cup was put on a saucer, and then transferred to a tray. She'd once tried to just carry the cup and saucer, sans the tray, but that had not ended well. Not well at all. So, the tray remained a staple of her delivery process.

Knowing that the coffee wouldn't be done for a bit, Mai went ahead and took Naru his tea. She paused a moment before the door, taking the time to giggle a bit as Takigawa attempted to arrange furniture. "Having fun?" she asked.

"Loads of it," the monk replied sarcastically, tweaking the angle of an armchair.

"You realize this is karma for trying to make me learn self-defense."

"Or it could be needless cruelty on Naru's part."

Mai pretended to consider that possibility. "Nope. Karma."

Before the monk could shoot back a reply, the girl slipped into Naru's office and closed the door.

As usual, the office's light level was about the same as twilight's would be. _One of these days, I'm going to force him to open those blinds. This isn't healthy at all._ Naru was leaning a hip against the side of his desk, reading some paper documents by the light of his computer. He should have looked creepy and nerdy. But he didn't. Not in the least. _No fair._ It was all she could do to keep her thoughts focused and her voice level when she placed the cup and saucer on his desk, saying, "Here."

She didn't get her hopes up for a thank you. So, without waiting for a response, she turned to go.

"Mai."

Why was it that, whenever he said he her name, it sounded like a command? It was like some feudal lord speaking to his vassal. "What _now_?" She resisted the urge to tack "your Majesty" onto the end of her question. And people thought she had no self-control.

Naru chose to ignore her somewhat hostile tone. "Come here." He'd been considering Takigawa's idea and, to tell the truth, it wasn't necessarily a bad one. Mai was only just beginning to learn how to do a proper exorcism and was completely clueless on how to take care of herself if someone came after her, possessed or otherwise.

"Why?" Mai asked suspiciously, facing him once more.

"I don't pay you to argue with me, Mai."

"I know. Consider it a complementary service." Despite her sarcasm, the brunette went to him anyway.

Naru shifted his eyes away from the papers in his hand and glared at her, outwardly indicating he didn't think much of her retort. Inside, however, he was smirking. _She's getting better at this. Her responses are much wittier than they used to be_. "Now turn around."

"Excuse me?"

"Mai."

There it was again! That holier-than-thou tone of his, as if he was nobility! Her irritation spiked, as it was prone to do whenever Naru pulled this superiority thing of his. She opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by a hard look. "Fine," she huffed, turning on heel to face the door.

Naru set the papers down on his desk, a slightly evil grin twitching his lips. "If I recall correctly, which I'm sure I do, you said that a problem for you when learning how to defend yourself was that you trip a great deal." Efficiently, he used one of his feet to nudge her right foot backwards.

Mai squeaked. That was the only description for the sound she made. "What are you—?" A bright red blush bloomed over her face.

Ignoring her outburst, her boss continued, "If you stand more solidly, like this, then that no longer is an issue." Seeming indifferent, he positioned her body so that her stance was perfectly balanced, feet apart, hands in front of her in a guard position._ This may be more entertaining than I thought it was going to be_. If Mai noticed that his hands lingered a little longer than necessary on her shoulders and arms, she didn't say anything.

Leaving her too surprised to utter any sort of remark, Naru walked around Mai until he was in front of her. "Now you simply need to get over this aversion to striking someone." He was still smirking.

"Do you have to know everything?" Mai complained once she could breathe again. Her heart was racing. Her thought from earlier came back for an encore. _No fair._

"One of us has to. Nothing would get done if I was as obtuse as you." Gods above, he loved teasing her.

"Why you…"

Judging that her level of annoyance and indignation was sufficient, Naru crossed his arms and shrugged. "Hit me."

"…What?"

"Are you deaf as well as stupid? I told you to hit me."

"Do you have a fever?" Her irked expression softened a little in concern. _Is he alright?_

Knowing exactly how to get a rise out of his beautiful assistant, Naru said only one word. "Mai."

Her worry disappeared instantly._ I hate that tone of voice! That condescending, narcissistic…_ "You asked for it." However, she found that she couldn't bring herself to even think about hitting him while she could still see him. So, she screwed her eyes shut and swung.

Only to stumble and have her fist caught easily in Naru's palm.

"That was more pathetic than I expected," Naru murmured, closing his fingers around her hand and enjoying the subsequent flush across her cheeks. Leaning forward to speak directly into her ear, he added, "Next time, eyes open." He pulled away from her, pleased that he appeared to have rendered her speechless. "Try again." Reluctantly, he released her hand.

"Eh? Are you serious?"

"Mai."

She swung again.

* * *

Ayako opened the door to the S.P.R. office already feeling apprehensive. It was unsettlingly quite. Usually, Mai could be heard chattering happily. Or Takigawa, the useless lump, would be sprawled on the couch while he loudly prattled about something or other.

Only one of these usual occurrences, she found, was actually happening.

Takigawa was indeed sprawled out. However, instead of laying on the couch or an armchair, he was on the floor. And he was eyeing the coffee table as if it was his mortal enemy.

"What are you doing?" the doctor and part-time _miko_ inquired almost idly. Her eyes cast about the room for signs of S.P.R.'s actual members, only to find them absent.

"You know, that's exactly what Mr. High and Mighty asked when he came in. It's a bit freaky that your mind and his came up with the same question under the same circumstance. You should do something about that." He reached out and carefully pushed the table's leg so that it moved a centimeter to the left.

"Spare me. Just answer the question. What are you doing?"

"Feng shui. What else?"

"If you think you're being cute or something, you're not."

"That's not what you thought last night."

Fuming, Ayako brought her high-heel wearing foot down on the monk's back. "You're not funny," she insisted with a glare, though a tinge of pink spread over her face. She completely ignored Takigawa's whimper of pain. "Now tell me where everybody is."

"Mai and Naru are in there." The long-haired man nodded at the closed door of Naru's office. "They'll be there for a while."

"What are they doing?"

"Well, you remember how Mai was hurt last—?"

He was interrupted by a shout of rage, followed by something that sounded very much like a fist hitting flesh.

Very much alarmed, Ayako asked, "What was that?"

"My guess? Mai finally landed a decent punch."

* * *

(A.N.) Well, there it is. Please leave me awesome reviews, since they make me happy and will get you some wonderful make-believe cookies. .


	17. Interaction and Comfort

Disclaimer: All the world's a stage, the men and women of Ghost Hunt merely players.

Practice Makes Perfect

(A.N.) Yay! Much quicker update this time around. I feel very proud of myself. So, this one comes from prompts mentioning nightmares and interaction, coming from **BlackBelt** and **Kyia Star** respectively. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You will find cookies in your imaginations. XD

* * *

"_Let me out!"_

_It was very dark, like tar or pitch. It was a darkness that was blacker than the blackest midnight, promising no intrusion from light. She had always been afraid of this sort of darkness. It was the stuff of nightmares and horror stories, the kinds of things that had given her the creeps ever since she was very young. _

_She'd always known, somewhere deep inside her heart, that those stories were true. _

_Her fingers were bleeding, the fingernails torn and ragged from clawing at the wooden prison. Panic had already to set in, however, so she was hardly concerned with that pain. It was air that she needed to save her worry for. How long could the air last in the compartment? _

_How long did she have to live?_

_Cold terror set in once again, chilling her very soul. She pounded against the top of the box with her bloodied fists, screamed with her already hoarse voice. "Please!" she sobbed at the top of her lungs. "Please let me out!" Tears streamed down her clammy cheeks. She thrashed in fear, irrationally hoping that it would save her in some way. But the only results were the bruises the hard pine walls of the narrow box left on her body. A feeling of needling pains accompanied the ache of the bruises._

_The coffin was beginning to leave behind splinters._

oOo

Taniyama Mai woke screaming and kicking. "Let me out!" Her breath came in desperate pants, lungs feeling starved for air. Her wild motions caused her to roll off the futon she'd been sleeping on, the blankets knotted around her, constricting her. It was no wonder she'd dreamt of fighting for air.

Almost immediately, manicured hands caught the shaking girl's shoulders. "Mai?" Ayako asked, still hazy with sleep. She'd been woken by the teen's cries.

Without answering, Mai buried her face into the _miko_'s pajama-clad shoulder and sobbed as if the world was ending. _It was dream_, the brunette told herself silently. _Just a dream. It's not real…Not for me._ The thought wasn't as comforting as she'd hoped it'd be.

As Ayako wrapped her arms around the girl's thin shoulders, another voice came from the futon to the right of Mai's. "What happened?" There was a rustle of fabric, the sound of bare footsteps, and then light flooded the room as the room's third occupant, Masako, flicked the switch on the wall.

"I think she had another dream," Ayako replied quietly, rubbing soothing circles on Mai's back. Her tone turned bitter as she added, "Just like Naru wanted."

Sighing in acknowledgement of the truth in the _miko_'s words, Masako knelt down, automatically smoothing the fabric of her sleeping _yukata_ under her. She laid a delicate hand on Mai's shoulder. "It's alright," she murmured. "Remember that it's only a dream."

"Then why did it feel so real?" the distraught girl wondered. She held out a bruised, scratched hand so that the other two women could see it. "Why does it always feel so real?"

"I don't know," Masako replied. She frowned slightly, disturbed by Mai's distress and injuries. Usually, the girl would already be shaking off the experience, would summon up a reassuring smile for them.

The three women fell silent for a few moments while Mai attempted to get herself under control. Ayako continued to rub her back, while Masako never left her side. Gradually, Mai began to calm down, her tears slowly but surely drying up. Though the residue of fear remained with her.

"I know," she finally said into the quiet.

It was Ayako's turn to frown. "Know what?"

"I know why it feels so real. Because, once, it was."

* * *

Morning dawned too slowly for Mai's peace of mind. She hadn't gone back to sleep after waking from that horrible nightmare. She didn't have the courage to chance having that dream again. So, she'd sat on her futon, waiting for the dawn to come and wishing that S.P.R. had never taken the case. On paper, it had all seemed so simple. Old house dating back to Emperor Koumei's time, weird and inexplicable sounds that occurred late at night, people seeing the apparition of a girl wandering the halls… Just your normal run of the mill haunting.

_Yeah. Right,_ Mai snorted in her head, staring at her injured hands. She was still trying to pull herself together. She would act as if nothing was wrong, as if she was happy, even though she was scared witless. She didn't want any of her impromptu family to worry about her, after all.

So once the sun began to rise, lightening the sky outside the window to pale indigo, the brunette pushed herself to her feet with a groan. The bruises made her muscles feel stiff. _At least the splinters were easy to get_ _out_. She grimaced. Ayako had done her best to be gentle, but the process had still hurt.

In thirty minutes, she washed her face, brushed her teeth and hair, and dressed. She was still straightening her purple T-shirt with quarter length sleeves when she entered the base. Unsurprisingly, both Naru and Lin were already awake, seated at a table laden with papers and monitors. Alone, either could make a normal person feel un-industrious. Together, they made the entire human race seem lazy.

The thought was amusing enough that it gave Mai's smile a jump-start. As long as that initial spark was there, she could keep smiling for a while. After that, she was sure that something Takigawa or Yasuhara said would make her smile again. That was usually how it worked on days when she felt this depressed.

With as much enthusiasm as she could muster, Mai chirped, "Good morning!"

Naru didn't even look up from the documents he was examining. "Mai, tea."

_At least Lin-_san_ was polite enough to look at me_, the girl groused silently. She did as she was bid, taking her time to make the tea properly. The process was familiar and comforting, and a little of her anxiety disappeared in the normalcy of the situation. As much as she disliked Naru's rudeness, she really wouldn't have it any other way. The world would experience Armageddon before Naru was anything but his bossy, narcissistic self.

That bossy, narcissistic self that Mai loved.

Still, he could have looked at her in acknowledgement like a normal person would have.

Resisting the urge to deliberately spill the scalding tea all over her heartbreakingly beautiful boss, Mai set down a cup of black tea near his elbow. Another cup, filled with jasmine tea, she handed to Lin.

Her small task finished, Mai found herself wondering what to do. She didn't want to be the one to bring up her dream, still uncomfortable with the whole "hi-I'm-psychic" thing. She didn't like the undue attention it brought on her, except when it was Naru's.

The black wearing ghost hunter in question was frowning slightly as he continued to peruse the papers in front of him. "The only strange occurrence that could be linked to the phenomenon being experienced here is the disappearance of one of the previous occupants' daughters, Iwakura Haruko," he commented. "Rumors said that she ran away."

"Lies," Mai muttered involuntarily. Her bruised hands tightened around the tray she'd used to serve the tea.

Both Naru and Lin froze in what they were doing. The girl found herself pinned under Naru's deep Prussian blue and Lin's sharp black eyes. "Explain," Naru ordered.

Hugging the tray to her chest, Mai bit her lip and shook her head. She didn't want to think about it.

Critically, Naru examined his clearly reluctant assistant. There were dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept. The hands that were clamped down on the tray were white-knuckled with tension and were black and blue. The part of her forearms exposed by her shirt also bore purplish marks. His eyes traveled down her form, picking out the bruises on her long, exposed legs. "Tell me what happened, Mai." It took a great deal of effort to keep his voice even and unchanged. That well-buried part of him that was obsessively protective of Mai was seething with rage.

A few moments passed by while Mai worked up her nerve to talk about the dream. "I'm not sure if this is what you wanted to know but…I think you're looking for a grave," she finally said. "I don't know where, but somewhere on the grounds, I guess. Close." Her face took on a far-away look. "The box was made of pine. I could smell it." She breathed deeply, pausing for a long couple of seconds. It was clear that she was horrified. "I think she was buried. Alive. She kept screaming. 'Let me out'." Just saying the words made goose bumps break out on her skin. "Over and over again. 'Let me out'. No one did."

If Naru had been anyone but himself, he would have reached out to touch her shoulder or her hand. He would have tried to be comforting. However, he could only be who he was and that meant that he didn't do anything of the sort. He just wasn't good at such close human interaction. End of story. Though a voice was snarling quite angrily in the back of his mind that he most certainly could offer the girl comfort anyway. "Anything else?" he inquired coolly. Under the table, his hands curled into fists. Lin shot him a sideways glance, and Naru couldn't help but think that the older man knew exactly what was in his mind.

"Um, no. That's it." Mai's hands began to relax their death-grip on the tray, even though her shoulders shook slightly. She felt cold for some reason.

"Sit down before you faint, idiot," Naru commanded, pushing a chair towards her with his foot.

"R-right." She all but collapsed into the seat. _Why do I feel so weird? It doesn't make any sense._ Automatically, she pulled the chair a bit closer to the table so that she could lean her elbows on the smooth surface. _Maybe I'm just tired..._

Her thoughts were interrupted by a feminine screech. "Naru! I want to have a word with you!"

Lin winced slightly at the sudden and sharp noise, but he continued typing away on his computer. He couldn't resist thinking that what was about to happen was not only going to be interesting, but also highly entertaining.

Ayako threw open the door to the base and stalked inside, her high-heels clacking dangerously against the wooden floor. It was a good thing the floor wasn't _tatami_, or else the woman would have found herself punching holes with her stomps. The doctor's eyes glittered in a predatory sort of way as she marched up to the president of S.P.R. and, once she halted before him, her hands planted themselves on her hips. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I believe I should be the one asking that question, Matsuzaki-_san_."

A lesser woman would have cowered before the teen's icy tone, but Ayako was so incensed that she couldn't be bothered. "You are the most insensitive, cold-hearted, uncaring, selfish—."

"Do you have a point to make? Or are you only going to list a bunch of synonyms?" Naru cut in, glaring. The woman didn't know a damn thing about him.

"You," the miko snapped, "you are a _brat_!" She shifted her sparking eyes onto Mai's pale face. "Look at her! This is making her sick!" She pointed at the girl for emphasis, as if Naru had missed the tell-tale trembling and marks.

"No!" Mai protested, half-rising from the chair. "I'm fine. Really. There's nothing wrong with me."

"The hell there isn't!" Ayako snarled. Despite her enraged tone, she was gentle when she pushed Mai back down into the chair. "And don't you dare get up anytime soon unless you're going to go lie down and sleep."

"That's enough, Matsuzaki-_san_." The warning in Naru's words was clear as day. His fists remained clenched together, tension making his hands and arms ache. His short fingernails were digging into his palms hard enough that there would be lasting indents. "I'm sure you have duties elsewhere. Perhaps you could even be useful this time around by performing a successful exorcism," he bit out, resisting the urge to bare his teeth at the infuriating woman.

"Why you little—!"

Mai reached out and touched the _miko_'s hand lightly, a pleading look in her brown eyes. She hated to see the people she cared about fight. And it really wasn't Naru's fault that she was having such horrible dreams, despite the fact he encouraged it. She wanted to help if she could. "It's alright," she murmured. "I promise."

Ayako looked down at Mai's sincere expression and sighed. "Fine," she said, her eyes softening. "But you better take it easy. Doctor's orders." A small smile crept up on the woman's lips. No one could resist when Mai was that serious.

Mai's answering grin was dazzling. "Yes, Matsuzaki-_sensei_."

"And you," Ayako added, spinning back to Naru, "are going to leave her be. That means no fiddling with equipment or excessive walking."

"My actions concerning my employees are none of your concern," Naru answered, keeping his dark blue eyes fixed on the data on the table. _As if I didn't already know those things_, he seethed. He knew Mai's limitations better than anyone, having observed closely her ever since he'd first met her. Initially, he'd done so out of habit since he was a people-watcher by nature. But then, as he grew more attached—one might even suppose _attracted _was a better word—he kept an eye on her for his own peace of mind and, sometimes, he did it because watching her was simply enchanting.

Ayako opened her mouth to start shouting again and only Mai's intervention headed off the explosion before it happened.

"Maybe Monk-_san_ could help you with the exorcisms. There are a lot of rooms to go through. More than twenty of them! Can you believe that? What could anyone need so many rooms for?"

Recognizing the distraction for what it was, Ayako stared rusty _tanto_ blades at Naru for a few moments more before letting herself be deterred. "I suppose that perverted old man would be useful," she acknowledged with a toss of her head.

Mai giggled. "Probably. Now go on. The sooner you guys get rid of the ghost, the sooner we can all head home."

It wasn't until the _miko_ closed the door behind her as she exited that Naru's fists relaxed slightly. _That woman doesn't know when to keep her thoughts to herself._

The ghost hunter slid some data read-outs recorded the night before over to the girl. "Go through those. You _do_ know what to look for, right?"

"I'm not exactly new at this anymore, you know," his assistant replied dryly, absently rubbing at a blood-shot eye. "This is what? The tenth or eleventh serious case I've been on?"

Deciding that replying was beneath him, Naru continued to sift through the information in front of him. Yasuhara's research was extensive (and there was more to come) and it would take a while to get through everything.

The minutes ticked by and the silence stretched, broken only by Lin's typing and Mai's yawns or sighs. Every now and again, the girl would glance over at her handsome boss/crush and loose her train of thought. It was a wonder that he didn't catch her during her little staring sessions, even if they only lasted for maybe a few seconds at a time. Her face seemed to be in a permanent state of blushing, much to her embarrassment. _Not that it's surprising_, she griped to herself. _It happens all the time when he's around._

In all actuality, Naru had caught Mai a few times when she'd kept her eyes on him for an extended period. It was not something he completely understood her motivation for. He wasn't doing anything remotely interesting. There wasn't any reason for her staring. Though he didn't mind when she blushed. She was absolutely adorable when she did that. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Most of the time, he didn't even admit it to _himself_. He also found that it was extremely difficult to resist—which he did despite that difficulty—the compulsion to push her short chocolate hair out of her face whenever it fell forward.

After some more time passed, Mai became keenly aware that Naru had not ordered tea. Which was strange. Very strange. _Is he sick? Or maybe he fell asleep with his eyes open? _She peered at him as closely as she dared. However, she didn't see anything that struck her as out of the ordinary.

"Is there something you need, Mai?" Naru inquired, flipping to the next page of Yasuhara's report. He smirked inwardly when she flushed a deep magenta color.

"N-no. Nothing!" she denied. Immediately, she turned back to the papers in front of her and did her best to look thoroughly engrossed in them. _Stupid Mai!_ she chastised herself. _Just because he's… No. Don't even go there. Work!_

Another half-hour whittled away. Lin kept an eye on the monitors to ensure that Ayako and Takigawa were proceeding with their exorcisms unhindered. Naru continued the tedious task of sifting through information. And Mai…Well, Mai nodded off. She was slumped over the table, her head pillowed on her arms, face peaceful.

By the time Naru noticed his pretty assistant had fallen asleep, she'd already been out for a good five minutes.

Lin also found his attention drawn to the slumbering girl when he realized that Naru was no longer being as industrious as before. Instead, the teen was gazing silently at Mai, probably unaware of Lin's scrutiny. "It would probably be best," he stated, turning back to the screens, "if you took Taniyama-_san_ back to her room, Naru." He would have preferred to have said nothing, but he knew Madoka would have murder him if he hadn't.

Naru's shoulder's stiffened in surprise at the Chinese man's voice, wondering how long the man had watched him stare at Mai. It was not something he dwelled on though. The sorcerer's suggestion was actually a good one.

Wordlessly, he slid his arms under her body, lifting her with a soft grunt. She was surprisingly light, he realized as he cradled her against his chest. He could afford to be so gentle with her now since she was asleep. It wasn't as if she would ever know.

* * *

_She was suffocating. Her lungs could get enough oxygen no matter how many breaths she took. Her chest felt painfully tight, as if a heavy lead weight had been strapped there. It _hurt_. She was dying and it hurt. Just like in a ghost story…_

"_Please let me out, Daddy," she whispered. "I…promise to be good." She hadn't meant to make him angry. What had she done this time? She couldn't remember. "Please…"_

_Feebly, she raised her arms and pushed against the top of the coffin. Her sensitive fingertips passed over the gouges made by her nails. It was no use. The wood didn't move. Why was that? Was the box nailed shut? Or had she been…buried?_

_She pounded against the wood anyway, though she was ready to just give up._

No. Keep fighting_, a small voice, her intuition, encouraged. _

_She didn't bother to listen to that voice anymore. It had been bothering her for a while, but listening to it hadn't done her any good. No matter how hard she'd struggled, she hadn't escaped from the coffin. _

_More lead weights seemed to attach themselves to her arms and legs and head. Her chest hurt even more now and her shallow breaths did nothing to alleviate the pain. In fact, the action only made it ache worse. Each breath burned, even as a queer numbness began to spread inward from her fingers and toes. _

"_I won't leave," she promised herself. "I won't leave until he comes for me and lets me out." Tears poured from her eyes, sliding down the sides of her head. The salty water was surprisingly warm. _

_Her eyelids drooped closed, feeling heavy. Those damn lead weight, again._

_She didn't open them again._

oOo

When Mai woke up this time, there was no violent thrashing and no excruciating sobs. There was only heart-wrenching sorrow and soft tears. She shut her eyes almost as soon as she'd opened them. She would just cry for a little while. Then she'd go and report to Naru. She barely spared a second to wonder why she was back on her futon instead of in the base.

So lightly that the brunette wasn't even sure she'd felt it, fingers brushed over her tear-stained cheek. Sure that it was Ayako, she caught the hand with her own, not making the effort to open her eyes. Keeping a hold on the hand, she sleepily pushed herself into a sitting position. Her crying never halted.

"Mai."

Startled to hear the baritone of Naru's voice instead of Ayako's alto, Mai's eyes flew open. Sure enough, it was her boss and not the _miko_ who was seated next to her futon. It was his hand that she'd so securely wrapped hers around. She was too surprised to let go. "Naru? What are you—?"

Her question was cut off when Naru yanked unceremoniously on her hand, pulling her to him. His other arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Idiot. You're too sensitive for your own good," he muttered, feeling awkward. He _really_ was not good at this sort of thing. Where was his idiot brother when he needed him? _No, scratch that. I'll kill him the minute he touches her, ghost or not._

Mai knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. She shut her mouth and buried her flaming face against Naru's neck. A feeling of safety spread through her, soothing her trembles and her tears. Her heart, however, began to pound uncomfortably fast. Shyly, she loosely wrapped her arms around his waist. Maybe she was bias, but Mai was of the opinion that Naru gave excellent hugs.

At first, Naru stiffened when the girl he held had encircled him in her own arms, but recovered before she could even think to pull away. The arm he had around her shoulders tightened a fraction, pressing her head more securely against his shoulder. She was making incoherent sounds against the fabric of his black suit jacket and he strained to make out her words.

"No fair," she babbled softly. "Who would…good…this?"

As a narcissist, Naru's ego couldn't help but expand. Maybe this whole interaction thing wasn't as troubling as he thought it was. He apparently had a knack for it, if Mai's reaction was any sort of indication. And it couldn't that difficult to learn. Only around Mai, of course.

Experimentally, he lightly smoothed her hair, letting his hand continue down her neck and mid-way down her spine. Then he repeated the motion. The girl sighed in contentment, appearing to have completely forgotten to be embarrassed.

_I suppose that practice makes perfect._

* * *

(A.N.) Thanks for reading! Oh, and I don't want to sound picky but... Well, tell me if this makes sense. I have over 160 people who have this series on their story alerts. I have 22 reviews for the last shot. Does that seem incongruous? Not that I'm not flattered, but I wish that people could leave me some sort of comments. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you to review, not just add me to your favorites or alerts. How am I supposed to make these better if you all don't tell me how? So REVIEW! Love and peace to you all. _Ja-ne_.


	18. Channelling

**Hand in Hand**

_There was never any sound when her dreams began like this. The blue and white will o' the wisps swirled around her in the silence, brushing against the skin left bare by her purple skirt and white T-shirt. The fabric should have made a swishing noise as she moved. There should have been the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears, of blood pumping through her veins. Instead, there was nothing._

"_Hello?" she called. Her voice seemed louder than a peal of thunder on a summer night. _

_There was no answer. _

_Pushing brown hair back from her face, she moved forward tentatively, doing her best not to look down. She knew that the sight of the black nothingness below her would only produce a feeling of vertigo. The wisps congregated around her, guiding her as a pack of small dogs would herd a sheep. She let them push her where they wanted since her usual guide was most definitely absent. _I wonder what happened to him. . ._ she thought absently as she was shoved along. _

_Slowly, her surroundings began to change. The darkness faded, giving way to hardwood floors and walls decorated with paintings. Windows materialized, their drapes a rich cream color. It was clearly a Western-style house, though it was completely unfamiliar to her. Sound also began to return. Her steps made the floorboards creak amidst the soft thuds of her footfalls. _

_She paused when she heard soft voices. Her head turned instinctively toward the source of the noise, only slightly surprised to find an open door leading from the hall into a room occupied by two young boys. They had dark hair and pale skin. Both had blue eyes. In fact. . ._

_They were identical._

_And she knew them on sight, though she had never before seen them at so young an age. She guess them to be about nine or ten years old._

"_I don't know why you're resisting so much," one of the boys said, directing a very familiar glare towards his brother._

"_Noll, it's stupid. You know it always make you sick." The other boy's tone was torn between stubbornness and concern._

"_That's why you're going to help me, Gene. It's a theory I have."_

"_You and your hypotheses," Gene muttered. "You're going to be such an idiot, insufferable prig of a scientist when you're a grown up."_

_Noll ignored his brother, reaching for Gene's hand with his mouth set in a firm line._

_She knew that look. It was the look Noll, whom she called Naru in the real world, used whenever he didn't care one wit about what someone else thought. It usually meant he thought they were utterly and completely wrong about a point he knew himself to be right. _

"_Channel me." _

_Gene looked annoyed. "I can't! You're not dead, stupid!"_

"_It's all just energy, Gene! It's the same thing!"_

"_I hate you."_

"_Don't be stupid."_

"_Don't call me stupid!"_

"_Then channel my energy."_

_She recognized the tactic Naru was employing. She had fallen victim to it herself. Naru would berate you until you just did what he wanted. He would call you stupid, weak, illogical, and a whole host of other things until you were so angry you either tried to punch him in his smug, beautiful face or gave in._

_Gene, as far as she could tell, tried both. When Naru evaded his brother's hit, Gene snatched his brother's hand and grumbled, "Fine."_

_Smirking, Naru directed his attention across the room to a chair. Naru began to glow. The air was charging with energy. Even she could feel it, and she wasn't even actually there. This was just someone's memory, an event long past._

_Sweat broke out on the twins' forehead. Gene took on a subtle glow of his own, though this glow seemed to fluctuate. It grew brighter, then would be absorbed into Gene's body, dimming once again before the cycle began anew. During each dimming, a soft pulse rippled through the air from Gene's feet. "Ready," Gene mumbled, clearly concentrating._

_The chair slowly lifted up off the floor, wobbling. It hovered near the ceiling for a moment, then shot across the room, shattering into a rather impressive amount of wood slivers upon impact with the far wall. Naru's face broke out into a triumphant smile. "I did it!"_

"We _did it," Gene said pointedly. _

_Naru cut his brother a glance. "It was still my theory that _we_ proved."_

_Gene sighed. "You're going to be an idiot scientist when you grow up, Noll."_

_Naru scoffed. "I won't be an idiot anything."_

"_Prat."_

oOo

Mai woke with a start, disturbed by the sound of the machine monitoring Naru's heartbeat. From her place at the hospital bedside, she craned her neck to get a glimpse of the clock. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. She'd only been asleep for about forty minutes. "Wonderful," she sighed and stretched her arms above her head, arching her back to ease the stiffness that came from falling asleep in a rather uncomfortable chair.

Naru lay unconscious in the hospital bed, the same as when she had fallen asleep. It was her turn to stay with him. She had relieved Monk-_san_ of the duty just two hours ago. They were on day three of the rotation. In a few more hours, Lin would come for the night shift. They all were waiting for Naru to wake up.

Mai didn't understand what had possessed Naru to use his substantial telekinetic power. It was so dangerous for him. He knew that. And he was not the sort of man who acted purely on impulse. She did know that it had saved her life.

The house they had been investigating turned out to be free of supernatural phenomenon. It was their old friend land subsistence. But by the time Naru had come to this conclusion, the house was already collapsing. Mai had been doing additional sweeps with the temperature monitor when the ceiling had started falling. She'd run for her life. Her run down the last hallway stretch had seemed so hopeless. Even now, remembering, she could feel her heart race. She'd been so sure she was about to be crushed like an insignificant bug.

Then everything around her had seemed to stop.

The walls froze in place, the buckling wood still and the stray splinters hovering. The ceiling had not falling on her head. Mai had made it those last few meters. The moment she'd gotten outside everything in the house succumbed to entropy, the collapse resuming as if someone had hit the play button on a paused video.

She had been elated until she saw Naru fall to the ground.

Fast-forward three days and he was still in the hospital, in a coma.

Worry creased her pale forehead. Without thinking, she gently grasped Naru's limp hand. _You have to wake up._ She wished her latent ESP was good for something besides dreams and occasional astral projection. Maybe if she was telepathic or empathic, she could reach into Naru's dormant mind and bring him back to consciousness.

Maybe. Naru would probably tell her that was a stupid idea.

Thinking about her abilities led Mai's thoughts back to the dream she'd had. Even through her anxiety, she smiled. Trust Naru to be so unbearable even as a child.

Mai lightly squeezed Naru's hand, purposefully ignoring the IV line inserted on the back of it. "C'mon, Naru, you're stronger than this," she urged. "If you can hear me, you'd better wake up right now. Or I'll…I'll…" She searched her mind for a suitable punishment. "I'll have Monk-_san_ and Ayako replace all your black shirts with neon colored ones!"

There was no response.

oOo

"_He will wake up, Mai. Don't worry so much."_

_Mai spun around quickly, a smile already stretching her lips. "Gene!"_

_The spirit of Naru's twin gave a warm hug. He was, in many ways, everything Naru was not. Mai had often wondered how they had turned out so different and what it would have been like if Gene were still alive. _Gene and I would have been great friends. _Strangely, she had never wondered whether, if Gene were alive, she would have fallen in love with him instead of Naru. It had never occurred to her. _Maybe that me weird. . .

Nah. There are other things that make me weird.

_She had spaced out while Gene was talking. He poked her. "Mai, pay attention."_

_She stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't sound like your brother. It's unsettling."_

"_. . .You talk to ghosts, have post cognitive dreams, can astral project yourself, and _that_ is what is unsettling to you?"_

"_. . .Maybe."_

"_That's special."_

"_Thanks?"_

"_I didn't mean it as a compliment, love." There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes._

"_Hush. I'm fabulous."_

_Gene finally let out a chuckle. "Wake up, Mai. There's someone waiting for you."_

oOo

Mai's eyes cracked open slowly. Fatigue and worry made her feel like she needed to sleep for at least another hundred years. Groggily, she lifted her head off the edge of Naru's hospital bed.

"If you were here in order to monitor my condition, you have failed miserably."

Mai had never been so happy to hear Naru criticize her. "You're awake!" Without thinking, she flung herself at him, enveloping him in probably the biggest hug she'd ever given anyone.

Naru wasn't entirely sure what to do. He knew it would probably be best to push his assistant off him, but she was so incredibly earnest about the endeavor that he couldn't quite bring himself to do so. It didn't hurt that she was warm and smelled nice. Not that he was paying attention to such things. Not at all.

"Thank you," Mai whispered, eyes squeezed closed.

"For what?"

She pulled back just a small fraction to give him a somewhat incredulous look. "You kept a house from falling on me."

"Right. That." He gave her an inscrutable look. "I really don't have time to train another assistant. It made perfect sense to preserve your safety."

Mai rolled her eyes. "You could just say 'you're welcome' and let me think that you like me just a little bit."

"Why would I do that?"

"Um. . .Because I'm fabulous?" she said in a small voice. She had now completely disengaged from the hug and had focused a rather doe-like pout on Naru. He thought it was adorable. Not that he had thoughts like that about her. Not at all.

His lips twitched in an almost-smile and said nothing.

oOo

Two weeks later, Naru was working in his dimly lit office. There was a lot of paperwork to fill out regarding the previous case, mostly filling out insurance forms and signing off on various legal documents. And once he finished up with those papers, he had to review the six case files stacked in his in-box. They were new cases that had been filed with the office, all in the passed five days. Lin had offered to take over the new cases, but Naru despised being treated like an invalid. He knew that was what was going on because everyone involved at SPR was acting the same way. Takigawa kept offering to drive him places. Matsuzaki-_san_ would drop by everyday and would not leave until she had taken his pulse and blood pressure. Hara-_san_ would leave gifts of food sitting just outside his office. Madoka, already motherly in demeanor (when she wasn't being insanely terrifying), was essentially camping out in the lounge area of the office. John would make a point to ask him how he was feeling each day, and Yasuhara kept swiping files in order to do all the preliminary work necessary before he could get to them himself. The only reason Naru had the six files on his desk was that he had defiantly locked him in his office safe, effectively keeping Yasuhara from taking them.

And then there was Mai.

To be fair, Mai had always been conscientious, but it was getting to the point where he might as well not bother shutting his office door. There were inquiries about tea, about food, about "anything he might need".

A knock sounded at his door. Naru's eyes flicked to the clock on his desk. _It's been ten minutes since she was last here. How predictable._ "What?" he said out loud, letting his annoyance creep into his voice.

The door cracked open. "Naru?" Mai's voice contained a hint of hesitance.

"I said 'what'."

"I wanted to know if…"

"I do not need more tea. I am not hungry. I am not feeling faint or tired. What could you possibly be wondering since the last time you came in here 'wondering', which was ten minutes ago, by the way?"

Mai's face instantly switched from hesitance to annoyance. She put her hands on her hips, mouth set in a firm line, and stepped into the room. She shut the door firmly. If he hadn't been used to her fits of temper, he might have been nervous. Instead, he felt an internal flare of amusement at the way her nose crinkled up right before she ranted at him. Not that he noticed things like this. Not at all.

"What is your problem?" she asked, tossing her light brown hair from her face.

"You are all treating me like I am about to collapse. I assure you that isn't the case."

"You are an insufferable prig." He was impressed. She had switched from her native Japanese, instead using precise English.

"You've been working on your English. You have an awful accent though."

Mai slipped back into Japanese. "Don't you dare change the subject. Also, would it kill you to just say 'good work'?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps."

His petite assistant snorted. "Well, I _do_ know what's going to kill you."

"And that is?" Naru reached for one of the new files, flipping open the folder's manila cover.

"Your PK."

Naru froze, his fingers hovering above the first sheet of paper contained in the folder. "Nonsense."

"It's true and you know it. You either need to stop using it or—"

"Or what?" There was a dark tremor in his voice. A tremor that spoke of grief, and of a warning not to continue.

"You need to find someone else who can channel you!"

There was silence after Mai's proclamation.

"Get out."

Mai crossed her arms over her chest, nervous by how flat Naru's voice was. But she was determined not to yield. There was a reason that Gene had guided her through that dream. She was sure of it. Her dreams were never random, not when they had the feel of visions. While it was still uncomfortable for her to discuss her powers directly, she would never shy away from taking the course recommended by her spirit guide. Especially in this case, since Gene would obviously have Naru's best interest at heart. Though it would be difficult.

Naru was always so _stubborn_.

"You," she ground out in a forceful tone, "are going to teach me how to do it. Gene told me I was capable." That wasn't true, but Naru didn't need to know that. She inferred that she was capable since Gene sent her the dream. Why else would he?

Naru was almost startled from his anger. "Gene is gone."

"Not gone. Never gone. Not until you are taken care of." Total conviction dripped from Mai's every word. "And he wants you to teach me."

"It won't work. Gene and I were only able to do it because we were twins. Identical twins." Naru's dark brows furrowed over his startling blue eyes. _Perhaps…_ "It takes a strong connection, a strong trust."

"What? You don't trust me?" Mai fumed, her cheeks turning a shade of pink which matched her pastel T-shirt.

"That is not what I mean." Naru's anger started draining away, only to be replaced by exasperation.

"Isn't it?"

_And there is my anger again_. "Now you are being obtuse."

"Teach. Me."

"You are incapable!"

"Yes. I. Am." Each word was calmly and carefully uttered, as if he would misunderstand if she spoke too fast. "Why are _you_ being obtuse?"

Frustrated, and not liking that his pretty assistant had thrown his words back at him, Naru stood from his chair and made his was around his desk to stand in front of her. He didn't say a word. He grasped her wrist with his hand, focused on a stack of books across the room, and _pulled_ with his mind.

Mai's eyes rolled back in her head. It felt like lighting slapping her in the face, running through her blood. She could swear she heard Gene's voice in her head, shouting _Ride it! Ride it! _She gritted her teeth and tried to imagine she was ship cresting over a tidal wave, unbroken and unsinkable.

The books shot across the room as if thrown by an invisible giant, smacking against the opposite wall of the office with an unholy amount of noise. The air crackled around Mai and Naru, the energy gradually dissipating. Naru sagged against her and, though her own legs shook, she managed to keep him from crumpling to the ground. "Naru?!"

Cataloging his physical state, Naru was surprised to find that, other than feeling weak-kneed from the rush of energy, he did not feel…bad. In fact, he felt fine. It was as if Gene himself had been there, the Gene he remembered from their first experiments with channeling. "I'm alright." He pulled away from Mai's warm body, despite some internal yearning to linger. Not that he thought about that. Not at all.

Mai licked her lips. "A little warning next time, please?"

"What makes you think there will be a next time?" Naru took deep breaths. He made his way back to his desk, though he simply leaned his hip against it instead of lying down.

"Because—"

Frantic knocking at the door interrupted them. "Naru! Naru!" came Madoka's voice.

"We're fine, Madoka," Naru called back, annoyed.

Despite the assurance, the door burst open, the handle in the hands of Takigawa. Apparently both the monk and Madoka had been drawn by the loud bang of the books hitting the wall. "Do we have poltergeist now? Please don't say we do. It would be in the poorest taste, and far too ironic for me. Oh, hey, _jou-chan_."

Mai sighed, a smile spreading across her lips. "Hey, _bou-san_. I promise no poltergeists, okay? Naru and I were having an argument. I threw a book."

Suspiciously, Takigawa said, "It sounded more like you drove a truck through the wall."

"I guess I got carried away."

Takigawa's gaze darted between Mai's reassuring smile and Naru's sullen glare. "Uh…_huh_. Well, then, sorry for bothering you."

"Naru, would you like—?"

"No, I would not, Madoka. I am fine."

The door slowly closed, though both Naru and Mai could here conspiratorial whispering beginning before it was completely shut.

_Wonderful_, Naru thought sourly. _What scenario are they cooking up for themselves?_

Mai cleared her throat, drawing his attention away from his internal mutterings. "Yes?" he asked.

"We will practice." It wasn't a question.

Naru paused, searching her eyes for any hint of weakness. Though why he expected to find any was a mystery. Mai was certainly not weak. Just…naïve. And inexperienced.

He sighed. "Fine."

oOo

Her hand was chilled and small when he grasped it in his own. He smirked internally as a blush spread up her neck to her face. No matter how many times they did this, she flushed a deep pink. It satisfied something deep inside him that she should care so much when he touched her.

Energy charged in the air. "Ready?" he asked, deep blue eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Yes." Her fingers tightened reassuringly around his own.

Naru focused on the large boulder covering the entrance to the cave. The locals had insisted that the curse which caused their children to sicken had originated from a desecrated shrine within the cave. They needed to enter the cave to investigate, though Naru suspected they would find no real answers there.

The boulder lifted, moving through the air easily. Naru sent it to rest about fifteen feet away from its original position.

A whoop came from behind the focused pair as the static in the air faded. "That was awesome!" Takigawa exclaimed.

Mai wiped sweat from her forehand with her left hand, leaving her right resting in Naru's grasp. She smiled. "Thanks, _bou-san_."

"Stop dawdling," Naru cut in before Takigawa could really get started, "There is work to do, you know."

"Psh. You're no fun, Naru."

"This isn't fun. It is work. Now get to it before I decide not to pay you."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."

Mai watched the exchange with amusement, her smile never fading. Of course, that probably had to do with the young man whose hand she was holding. She wondered how long it would take for him to realize they were still connected. Over the passed three and a half months, it seemed to take him longer each time.

"So, how did I do, _Dr. Davis_?" she asked teasingly.

Naru was silent for just long enough for her good spirits to begin wilting. Then, he said quietly, "I'll give you a B+."

"What?!" She tore her hand from his to plant both her fists on her hips.

"There is always room for improvement, Mai."

"You are such an insufferable prig."

"At least your English is becoming passable."

Mai's scream of outrage rang loud enough for the other members of SPR to hear from within the cave. Naru laughed silently. He hoped she would never be too good at either English or channeling. He found he rather liked teaching her.

"Come on, Mai. We have a case to work. This is why I pay you."

"Don't you put me off! I'll work harder! You'll see!"

He was already walking away so that she couldn't see his pleased smirk.

"I know."


	19. English

Lessons in Life

Sexy Silk

(A.N.) Another installment has arrived! I hope you all enjoy this one! Jessie J is one of my favorite recording artists, and I think her songs are fun and/or meaningful. Happy reading!

* * *

Mai groaned in frustration, burrowing her face into the book in front of her. _I'll never pass this test._ She truly loathed English. The sounds were impossible! Her tongue tripped clumsily over digraphs, and forget about making the "L" sound!

"Mai-_san_?"

The young brunette kept her face firmly in her textbook. "Hey, John-_kun_."

"…Are you alright?"

"That's a matter of debate."

"I see." There was a pause. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Can you give me your brain for a week?" She finally picked her head up and looked at the priest with obvious distress.

John's blue eyes were wide, eyebrows attempting to become part of his hairline. He said, "I'm afraid that might be a little difficult."

Lips twitching into a smile, Mai shut the book and leaned her elbows on the desk. Some of her tension drained from her shoulders. "It was worth a shot. Thanks for offering to help, though." She finally gave him a true, friendly smile. "Anyways, what brings you here?"

"I was hoping to speak with Naru-_san_," he said, folding his hands behind his back.

Mai's smile widened. She had everyone involved in SPR, including Masako every once in a while, calling her boss Naru. Even now that they all knew his real name was Oliver Davis, the nickname had stuck like chewed gum to the bottom of a shoe. Of course, it _did_ help that Naru was simply the Japanese pronunciation of the British diminutive of Oliver: Noll. _Madoka would approve_, Mai thought gleefully.

She stood from her desk chair, smoothing her short pleated skirt, and said, "Well, he's hiding in his office, like always. I'll go tell him that you're here." She headed toward her boss's office. _More like his Fortress of Solitude_.

"Thank you, Mai-_san_."

She looked at him over her shoulder. "You can call me, Mai-_chan_, you know. We've certainly known each other long enough."

The young priest just smiled gently.

oOo

Naru heard most of the conversation taking place outside his office. The walls at SPR were not especially thick and it was a quiet day. Usually, Mai played music when there was nothing but general office work to do and no clients were expected. He suspected she was not playing music today because she was trying to concentrate. He'd heard her grumblings about her studies.

The knock on his door was anticipated. The sound had barely registered before he granted entry. "Come in."

Mai poked her head in the room. He chose not to mention that he forehead had a giant red spot from where she'd dropped her face into her book. "John-_kun_ is here to see you, Naru," she announced.

"Did he say why?" he asked, quirking one dark eyebrow. He knew the priest had not, but he did not want Mai to know that he could hear everything in the outer office area. It was more entertaining for him this way.

"Nope. And I didn't ask. But I figured that since it's John-_kun_, you would see him regardless of why. I'll bring tea in as soon as it's ready."

Naru was silent for a moment. He wasn't sure that he liked how well she'd anticipated him. He chose not to acknowledge it. "Tell him to come in."

"You got it, boss-man." She pushed the door open wider and turned to wave John in. Naru let his eyes wander over her, his attention caught by the swish of her rather short skirt. "Come on in, John-_kun_!"

Then Mai was gone, presumably to start the electric kettle. Disappointment flooded through him, briefly, and then John was there, seating himself in the chair in front of Naru's desk. "What can I do for you, John-_san_?"

"I have a case for SPR."

oOo

Mai, while waiting for the water to heat, pulled out her cell phone, fingering her Ghost Hello Kitty phone charm thoughtfully. She supposed that she could ask Naru for help with her English, but found the idea of his mocking response unappealing. _I'm not _that_ much of a masochist,_ she grumped silently. It also didn't help that she was still very much in love with the damn narcissist. It would be so embarrassing to have to ask for his help.

But she really needed to pass this test. She wouldn't be able to graduate in the spring if she couldn't pass English. And asking for advice certainly couldn't hurt.

So, she speed-dialed Michiko. Maybe her friend would let her come over so they could study together or something.

oOo

"_Are you sure this will work?"_

"_Of course. This is how I _always _study for our oral exams."_

"_It just seems so, well, so silly."_

"_Silly makes it fun."_

"_Well, it certainly can't make me any worse. Which one do you suggest?"_

"_Here." A silver disk passed between them. "This one is one of my favorites. She's really good."_

"Je-su-shi Jei_?"_

"_Jessie. Jessie J."_

_A hesitation. "Jessie J."_

"_Yes! See? You're pronunciation is already better!"_

"_Maybe this will work after all."_

"_I'll load it onto my iPod. You can borrow that. It will be more convenient."_

"_You're the best, Michiko!"_

oOo

The next day found Naru, Mai, Lin and Takigawa Houshou meeting outside a four-story brick building about two hours outside Tokyo. It was plain looking, with a simple sign out front which ready "St. Anne's School for Girls". John was waiting for them next to the heavy wooden door.

Naru's face remained stoic as the group entered the building. From what John had reported the day before, the SPR team was here only to determine _which _young woman at the school was causing the phenomenon, not to exorcise a ghost or any other kind of spirit. Then again, things could always be more complex than what John suspected, which was why Hara-_san_ would be coming the following day to do a walkthrough.

Naru would conduct a full investigation, if only for the sake of thoroughness. To do less would tarnish his (and, he supposed, SPR's) rather formidable reputation.

It would also cause him to be rather disappointed in himself.

He paused his thoughts to coolly greet a severe older women dressed in a long black dress, an opaque hair veil, and sensible shoes. John introduced her as the headmistress of St. Anne's, Sister Benedict. The interaction was brief as the woman seemed incredibly busy with her various charges. The school, John explained as he led them to an unoccupied classroom, also doubled as a boarding house. Sister Benedict, with the help of just two other nuns and a nurse taught and cared for about forty girls from ages twelve to eighteen. Even though one of the good sisters had taken the girls out for a nature field trip for the afternoon, he was not looking forward to interacting with a group of forty teenage girls. Naru thought this sort of environment sounded more like Hell more than a school, but didn't voice it.

Takigawa had no such qualms. "Don't things get a bit hellish?"

John looked at the monk, clueless. "What do you mean?"

"All these women in one house is what I mean. It can't be stable."

"Some are just kids, Monk-_san_," Mai pointed out as she hauled a box full of cables onto a table.

The older man snorted. "Passed the age of eight, all girls are just little volatile women waiting to explode."

"That's a horrible thing to say! No wonder you don't have a girlfriend," Mai huffed, crossing her arms in front of her.

"See? You're exploding."

"You are an insufferable—"

"But you love me."

"That is hardly the point."

"Sure, it is."

"I don't pay you two to talk," Naru ground out. He found it slightly annoying that Mai agreed so easily to the monk's assertion. His eyes narrowed.

Monk and young woman glanced at each other. "Of course not, Naru-_bou_," Takigawa commented with a roll of his eyes. The monk exited, presumably to finish unloading the van.

"Mai."

"What?" she snapped, irritated. He smiled inwardly. He found infinitely more attractive when she was upset with him, though he wasn't sure precisely why. He was reasonably sure that it had something to do with how her eyes shone and her cheeks flushed and…

_And that's enough of _that_ train of thought, Oliver._

"Make yourself useful and start setting up the cameras. Remember that you can only put them in the halls, the kitchen, and the classrooms." The headmistress's restrictions, not his own.

She bent down to grab a stack of tripods, her skirt (though longer than usual) exposing far more leg than was appropriate. Then she grabbed the handle of a wagon they'd begun using so Mai could do set-up by herself. She grumbled, "Yeah, yeah." She loaded the tripods and started piling cameras onto the trolley.

"And Mai?"

"_What_?"

"Don't take your sweet time. You still have to make tea."

He grinned in satisfaction as his lovely assistant stalked out of the room.

oOo

Mai fumed as she stuffed the buds into her ears. _He thinks he's so great! He's infuriating is what he is! Infuriating, arrogant, ridiculous, cold, gorgeous son of a—_ She pulled up short in her own thoughts and sighed. _Get over it, dummy! Been there, done that!_

The young woman took a deep breath and tapped the screen of the iPod, selecting the artist Michiko had recommended. She chose the shuffle function. She'd been listening to the music since the previous evening. She'd also kept an earbud in for the ride over to the school, though she'd kept the sound low to avoid annoying the ever irritable Naru. So, she was generally familiar with the playlist, even memorizing the more memorable parts of some of the songs.

Forgetting about her short-lived anger, Mai pulled the cart down the hall as she sang to herself. "_Oh, I will be your sexy silk…_"

She thought she sounded better already.

That thought put a little skip in her step and swing in her hips as she strode through the halls, setting up camera after camera along the way.

oOo

Naru glanced impatiently at the clock. It was the third time he had done so in ten minutes. Mai had been gone for almost an hour. There was no reason for such a simple task to be taking so long. Perhaps he had miscalculated the danger here? Though when John had described the events thus far, it had been pretty standard. Knocking sounds, objects moving in the middle of the night, mysterious messages carved into walls… At no point had there been an incident where anyone had been in even the slightest danger of injury.

Another glace at the clock. _For the love of…_ Naru, stood from the table he had claimed as his desk and walked briskly to where Lin sat with the monitors. "Anything?" the ghost hunter asked, his eyes skipping from screen to screen. Mai was clearly doing her assigned task, just not as quickly as he'd hoped. A small knot of worry he refused to acknowledge loosened in his chest.

Leaning over the dark-haired young man's shoulder, Takigawa interjected, "Hey, there's _jou-chan_!" A long finger pointed at the seventh screen, the second-to-last camera that Mai was supposed to set up. "But what on earth is she doing?"

Naru's eyes narrowed. His assistant was twirling and sashaying down the hallway in front of the camera. _Is she possessed?_ He'd never seen her move quite like _that_ before. "Lin. Audio."

The Chinese man flicked a few switches on the control board, then turned a knob on the monitor itself. There was a brief blast of static.

"Is she…singing?" Takigawa asked, somewhat stunned.

"I… Yes. Yes, she is." Naru was equally as stunned. How he kept it from his expression was simply the result of long practice.

"What is she saying? I'm not getting most of it. English, right?"

Lin and Naru exchanged a look. There was something amused in Lin's eyes that made Naru have to fight down a blush. _No. I am not having this conversation._

"Guys? What's she saying?"

Lin studiously ignored the monk, turning the volume for that camera off. He then resumed his own work on his laptop.

"Hey! C'mon! I want to know!"

Naru left the base without replying.

oOo

Mai was on her last camera, and on her third round through the short playlist. It apparently was only made up of the artist's released singles and an additional song that Michiko just loved. She was on her third repetition of that song now, and she could certainly understand why Michiko adored it. It had a great beat, a little jazzy. Of course, she wasn't quite following the meaning of the song, but that wasn't the point of the exercise. It was pronunciation.

So, she kept up her singing as she flipped out the last tripod.

"_I'll be your pussycat licking your milk,_

_Right now down, down, down,_

_Oh, a kiss can last all night!_

_You'll have to seduce me, nibble and bite_."

The L's were still troublesome, but she found that the sounds were rolling off her tongue instead of tripping over their shoelaces off a rocky cliff. And she could bite off the ending consonants much more crisply than before. She was of the opinion that this was good enough for a C grade. As long as she passed with a C or better, everything would be just fine.

"_I've got butterflies within._"

Mai couldn't help but dance along as she finished up with the camera. Since she was busy with her hands and arms (Kami, _these things are heavy!_), most of the dancing was vigorous swaying of her hips and some flicking of her feet.

"_Boy, your gonna win,_

_Say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,_

_You're under my skin_."

She finished with the camera attachment. Whooping with the song, she shouted, "Oh, I think I like you!" She _knew_ she was loving this song.

However, her delight did not last long.

A hand suddenly gripped her shoulder and snapped her thoughts away from the music. She screeched, jerking her body forward and trying to spin all at once. In her panic, her slip-on shoes slid on the polished hardwood floor and she knew with utter certainty that she was about to fall flat on her unobservant face.

The arm that locked around her waist changed the course of that fate. She instead came to rest against a warm, inky blackness. Her face flushed as red as a tomato. _Of course, it had to be Naru._ Taking advantage of the position she was in, she kept her head down, nose buried in the soft cloth of her boss's shirt. There were three reasons for this. One, he couldn't make fun of her blush if he couldn't see it. Two, she didn't want to risk getting drawn into what she liked to call Naru's Mesmerizing Blue Eyes of Doom. And three, well, he always smelled _really_ good.

Well, except for that time they'd had to crawl through a sewer, but that was a case best not remembered, anyway.

"Can you not do anything without falling down?" Naru chastised, hands gripping her upper arms to make sure she had her footing again.

"Well, excuse me!" Mai flicked an offended glare up him, then looked back down. _Must. Not. Stare._ "You shouldn't have startled me."

"I _did_ try calling your name, but you obviously couldn't hear me."

Mai reached up to touch her ears, realizing that one of the buds had fallen out. The playlist was still playing, though it had moved on to another song. "Oh, I was, um, listening to music."

"I noticed." His voice was colored with reproof. "In fact, we _all_ noticed."

Mai flicked her eyes towards his face for a second time. Her gaze lingered. He could tell the exact moment she figured it out, her head snapping around to look at the camera. Though the lens currently wasn't pointed in their direction, he could see her accusatory look. "You mean—"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, this is embarrassing."

His lips twitched. Barely. "There was audio, as well."

Mai covered her eyes with one hand, the other still lightly resting on his chest from when she'd regained her balance.

He decided to hammer the point home. "Lin and I chose not to interpret the meaning of the song for Takigawa. You should thank us both." When the young woman just blinked owlishly up at him, he realized she had no idea why. "Mai, you _do_ know what the song implies…don't you?"

"Um, not exactly?" She added quickly, "I'm only using it for pronunciation practice! I have a test on Friday and Michiko told me to try this!"

"Your friend has interesting taste in music."

"Oh, _Kami_, it was a sex song, wasn't it?"

A part of Naru's brain was not dealing well with the word "sex" coming out of Mai's perfect mouth. The rest produced the brilliant response of: "That depends."

"On what?"

"Which lyrics you're asking about. Some were more…provocative than others."

Mai actually hid her face completely in his shirt. _I really should push her away,_ he thought critically. Though, for some reason, his arms did not comply.

"You're saying this on purpose this to embarrass me."

Naru didn't answer. He simply waited for her to peek up at him, her pale face framed somewhat what his dark shirt. It was, he had to admit, an appealing sight.

"It's time to go back to the base," he finally said, prying her gently from his chest.

Mai bit her lip. "But you haven't told me—"

"Ask Matsuzaki-_san_. It's time she does _something _useful."

It was also time that Naru put some distance between himself and this topic before he embarrassed himself.

oOo

The case was a piece of case, in Mai's book. They'd collected all the necessary readings and footage in one night. Masako had then arrived the next day to sweep the house and confirm that there were no spirits in residence. Naru and Lin had conducted their little poltergeist-hypnosis test. In just three days, they had pinpointed the thirteen-year-old with the unusual name Tsuna as the cause of the phenomenon at the school. Mai provided the girl with some cheerful attention, and Naru had handed the girl a referral sheet for where she could learn to control what powers she had.

Mai, though still using Michiko's iPod, kept her signing soft and her dancing minimal.

And, despite Monk-_san_'s insistence and her own efforts, Naru never explained that song to her.

oOo

That Friday, Mai had two things on her agenda. The first was to pass her oral exam. The second was to meet Ayako for tea.

Mai was nervous at first when she entered her exam room, but slowly grew more comfortable as she was able to answer every question the examiner threw at her. She even got creative enough to throw in a few extra grammar constructions she knew hadn't been on the study sheet.

While the stern-faced man conducting the test never smiled, Mai didn't sense any frustration from him at the end. She felt pretty confident that she had actually done well. _Too bad I didn't know about this study method before now!_

He told her they were finished. She stood, bowed, and thanked him for his time. Then she was rushing out the door, tripping a little over her own feet, in the hopes she could catch the 12:07 train to Shibuya district.

She did not make the train, which meant that she was a few minutes late to meet the priestess. She apologized immediately, especially since she was the one who had picked the time. She hadn't wanted to wait to have the conversation at SPR. Privacy, for once, would be preferable.

"Mai, just sit down," Ayako snapped, exasperated. "What did you need to talk to me about? You made it sound like life or death."

Mai flushed as she rummaged through her bag to pull out the note pad where she'd written the lyrics to "the song". Ayako looked torn with feigned boredom and interest. "What's this?" the older woman asked as Mai slid the book away from her with a little more force than necessary.

"It's a song I was using to practice English with. My friend Michiko recommended it, and I didn't know what the words meant really… I mean, I got the literal translation, I suppose, but.."

Ayako waved the girl silent and read. "Let me guess. Someone caught you singing it out load and wouldn't tell you what could mean?" Her eyes continued to scan over the page. Her English was a little rusty, but it was still good. Her parents had insisted on English to compliment her degree in medicine, saying it would allow her to attend international medical conferences and such without being encumbered by a translator. The _miko_ smirked. _I doubt they ever though those lessons would be put to a use like _this_._

"You really want to know what this is implying?" Ayako asked dubiously. Mai already looked uncomfortable and they hadn't even discussed the song yet.

The girl nodded, her cheeks glowing.

"Alright," Ayako sighed. "So, this line here says 'I'll be your pussycat licking your milk', which is probably referring to oral…"

_Oh, _kami_, why_.

oOo

Naru was a little disgruntled when he heard the outer office door to SPR crash open, but not surprised. Between Mai, Ayako, and Takigawa, he was surprised he hadn't needed to have the hinges replaced yet. However, he was surprised when his own office door was treated to the same action.

His lap was suddenly full of Mai, who has hugging him rather tightly around the neck. Her words were rushed, repeating "Thank you" over and over again.

His thoughts stopped completely when, in her exuberance, she pressed her lips against his.

Then, his assistant pulled away only slightly, her cheeks pink and eyes wide with what he assumed was gratitude. He almost, _almost_ groaned in disappointment. "Thank you for not telling Monk-_san_! He would have never let me live it down! And he could have told Yasuhara-_kun_, which would have been just awful! Thank y—"

"Mai."

She paused. "Yes?"

"Are you planning to stay there all day?"

The girl finally noticed the position she'd flung herself into. "Uh, no."

"Then move."

He'd expected to dissolve into a puddle of distress. Instead, she kissed him again. This time, Naru did not loose his wits. He wrapped an arm around her back, moving his own lips against her. But before things could progress any farther, she was sliding off of him, her awkwardness catching up with her.

Naru took a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, he said, "Next time, just ask me for English lesson."

Mai licked her lips. _I can't believe I did that._ "I…"

Naru raised a single eyebrow expectantly.

_He kissed me back!_ She bit her lip. "Only if you don't make fun of me!"

"I promise you will enjoy it." There was smirk stretching across Naru's lips.

_Oh, my_. Well, there was nothing she could say to that besides... "Alright."

"In fact, we'll start today. But first, tea."

Mai blinked. It didn't occur to her to remind him that her last test had been today. "Right. Tea." _ How can he think of tea right now? I'm still stuck on the kissing!_

She didn't know that Naru was already calculating how to get her comfortable enough for him to steal another kiss.

In the kitchenette, Mai busied herself with making tea. Naru could hear her singing from where he sat plotting in his office.

"_Oh, I will be your sexy silk…"_

He smiled.

* * *

(A.N.) So what did you all think? Leave me a review! I'm also open to suggestions for future chapters. Are there any lessons you'd like Naru or Mai (or both) learn?


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